Tampa. It didn’t help that Victor Hedman stood out for one of the most delicious solo shows of his career.
The defending champions still lost the fourth round of the Stanley Cup Final – an overtime goal they think should have been missed due to too many Colorado players on the ice.
Too hard to swallow, Vig sighs.
It was in the middle of the second period of drama at the Amalie Arena, barely five minutes after Nathan tied 1-1, Victor Hedman took the show.
The massive linebacker—who himself was sent off with a 1-1 goal—grabbed the ball into his area, slashed away over the ice, succumbed to the steady Colorado players, slashed out to the right of goalkeeper Darcy Quimper—and pushed in a backhand.
The armored cruiser from Angermanland presented itself to the adversaries – and shortly thereafter Roger Pontari’s “When the Wind Whispers My Name,” Victor’s own song, rang out in the ring.
But this did not help. Avalanche’s Andrew Cogliano equalized again at the start of the third half – so Nazem Kadri decided on a controversial goal in overtime.
“Yes, that’s a loss that’s hard to swallow,” Hedman sighs then.
A controversial goal was decided
The controversy was that, according to the home team, Colorado had too many players on the ice at the sudden-death target – and that it was the champ, my destiny, who jumped too soon.
– I can’t talk about it, my heart bleeds for the players. We must play. I have more to come tomorrow, says coach John Cooper closely before he abruptly ends his press conference.
The dissatisfaction at the Tampa camp is unlikely to be underestimated by the fact that the NHL then changed protocol and fired one of six players who were first put on ice at the time of the decision.
– But we can’t just sit here and feel sorry for ourselves. Our only focus should be winning the game and never thinking we have a mountain to climb, says captain Stephen Stamkos.
The Fifth Final will be decided in Denver on the night between Midsummer Night and Midsummer Day.