New York. An unexpected Swedish champion stepped forward in the Stanley Cup playoffs last night.
Jesper Fast slammed the crucial sudden-death game as Carolina took a 2-0 lead in the eighth against the New York Islanders.
– It was my first extra time in a play-off, so yeah, you could probably call it the most important goal I’ve ever scored, says the 31-year-old from Småland to Sportbladet.
Overtime at PNC Arena in Raleigh was going on for five minutes when Jesper Fast — known primarily for his defensive skills and tireless grinding — surprised everyone with this season’s Carolina cone.
During the change of play, he was left clean on the right wing, received a close-ranged diagonal pass from Jordan Staal and swept the decisive ball 4-3 behind Ilya Sorokin.
“Yeah, probably no one expected that I would be the one to put down the Sudden Death Disk,” exclaims the Nasjo veteran as we catch up next.
Is it the biggest goal you’ve achieved?
– It was my first overtime in a playoff here, so yeah, you could probably call it the most important goal I’ve ever scored. Of course I felt very good.
Yes, because the Hurricanes have a 2-0 lead in the series against the Islanders and have a chance to make things really difficult for the opponent in the now-anticipated two games on Long Island.
– But we didn’t do anything but stay at home and last year’s qualifiers we couldn’t win away from home at all, so nothing is clear, continues the ‘Quickie’.
– Both matches here at home were very tight, and that will certainly be the case there too. However, I don’t think we’ve played the best hockey yet and I hope we can do that in the future. There will be a need.
I don’t get a boring job: Finnish Teuvo Teräväinen bröt en hand, ska opereras under torsdagen och är försät borta på övermätt tid.
The third match in the series takes place on Saturday evening and the fourth on Sunday 19.00 Swedish time.
