Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman of Ornskoldsvik, Sweden was named the National Hockey League player of the week for the week from December 23-29, 2019. In three games, Hedman had two goals and six assists for eight points.
In Hedman’s first game of the week, he had two goals and one assist for three points in a 6-1 Tampa Bay win over the Florida Panthers on December 23 at the Amalie Arena. He then had four assists in a 5-4 Tampa Bay home win over the Montreal Canadiens on December 28 and then had one assist in a 2-1 Tampa Bay home win over the Detroit Red Wings on December 29.
In addition to the eight points, Hedman was a +5 with one game winning goal and two power play points and 12 shots on goal. He had five hits and three blocked shots. Hedman’s game winning goal came against the Panthers as he scored from Brayden Point of Calgary, Alberta and Ondrej Palat of Frydek-Mistek, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) at 15:06 of the first period and put the Lightning up 2-0 at the time.
Hedman, who will represent the Lightning at the 2020 NHL All-Star Game, has nine goals and 28 assists for 37 points in 35 games during the 2019-20 National Hockey League regular season. He is a +2 with 17 penalty minutes, 19 power play points, two game winning goals, 89 shots on goal, 49 blocked shots, 45 hits, 20 takeaways and 16 giveaways.
It has been a challenging season for the Lightning as they have been fighting for a playoff spot all season long. Last season the playoffs were never in doubt as they led the NHL in points with 128 points. However this season, Tampa Bay is only in fourth place in the Atlantic Division with 44 points. They trail the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers inside the division and trail the Panthers by one point for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
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