Tampa Bay and Carolina offered a game with many turnarounds when the teams clashed in the first meeting of the quarterfinals, which is decided in the best of seven games.
It took almost half the match before the first goal came, and it was Victor Hedman who was behind it.
After Tampa Bay had a hard time coming to an end in numerical superiority, the Swedish back cliff got the chance, and fired a shot that was controlled by Brayden Point.
- We had problems early in powerplay with coming in and lining up, Hedman says at the press conference after the match.
- We will watch the videos of course, but it is a different defense we face compared to the previous round (against Florida).
We are working on it and getting ready for the next match.
We know that they are a little more aggressive, but we just have to go out there and do (what we are supposed to), then it will be able to look good, says Hedman.
Cernak injured
A cloud of concern for Tampa Bay is that hill Erik Cernak left the ice at the end of the second period after being tackled, without returning.
It contributed to more playing time for Victor Hedman, who was the outfielder who had by far the most ice time with 27:36 minutes.
-Once you play, of course you do not want to see anyone forced to leave the match.
I think we did a good job with our changes, that we tried to keep them short.
We did a good job back there to maintain the game we want to play, even if we were a man short, and make quick counterattacks.
We enjoy the extra ice age and are proud to try to defend the lead, says Hedman.
Barely two minutes into the third period, however, an equalizer came from Carolina's Jake Bean, where Jesper Fast was noted for an assist.
But in the thirteenth minute, Barclay Goodrow was able to set the 2-1 goal for Tampa, which was also the end result of the match, despite some gasping final minutes with hard pressure from Carolina.
Tampa thus leads the match series with 1-0 in matches.