Victor Hedman did not need a perfect scoreboard. He needed one lane.
With the Tampa Bay Lightning and Seattle Kraken tied 3-3 in overtime Thursday at Benchmark International Arena, Hedman carried the puck through the neutral zone, split Seattle's three skaters and finished a backhand through Philipp Grubauer's pads at 2:07. The goal gave Tampa Bay a 4-3 win and was Hedman's first of the season.
"It's been a while since I played 3-on-3 in a game like this," Hedman told NHL.com. "I was open and I felt like the other two guys were kind of wide, so I felt like I could get a step on the top guy to have a chance. Just trusting my instincts and trusting my legs."
The Lightning site's game report described the same rush: Hedman with speed through the middle, then a backhand through Grubauer's leg pads. Pontus Holmberg drew the lone assist, per the Hockey-Reference box score, which also listed Hedman with two shots, a plus-3 and 17:13 of ice time.
A long wait for the first one
It was Hedman's first NHL goal since Feb. 28 against the Buffalo Sabres. He played 33 games last season before taking a leave of absence to prioritize his mental health, missing the final 15 games of the regular season and all seven of Tampa Bay's playoff games, according to NHL.com.
"You want to see things like that happen," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Victor is going to have his name in the rafters here and you want times like that to be remembered. It's been a long fight back for him and those can do nothing but build his confidence. I think everybody got pretty excited when he did that."
Tampa Bay improved to 5-2-0 and remained unbeaten at home (4-0-0). The club has won five of its last six. Seattle fell to 5-2-1 after a three-game winning streak.
How the lead changed hands
Ryan Winterton opened the scoring at 5:43 of the first, tapping in a Frédérick Gaudreau feed after a turnover behind the Lightning net.
