The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Swedes powering Cup contenders
Six players from nation helped push Predators to Final.
Filip Forsberg is having quite the spring for the Nashville Predators, setting franchise records with his eight goals and 15 points. He’s tied the team mark with at least a point in seven straight games.
Pontus Aberg scored the winning goal to put Nashville up 3-2 in the Western Conference finals, while defenseman Mattias Ekholm has been smothering top lines all postseason. Viktor Arvidsson has 10 points, and his plus-13 rating ties him with Anaheim’s Rickard Rakell for second-best this postseason — behind Forsberg (plus-17).
All five of these players are Swedish. It has been a sweet postseason for players from a nation whose players once were derided for being soft and not able to handle the rigors of the NHL. In all, general manager David Poile has six Swedes on Nashville’s playoff roster as the Predators reached the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in their 19-year history.
“I must admit we haven’t gone out of the way necessarily to get them to this point, but I’m thinking maybe we should,” Poile said. “They’ve certainly been key parts of our team.”
The Predators have lots of company in mining Sweden for talent. Defenseman Erik Karlsson is one of four Swedes who played for Ottawa in the Eastern Conference finals, while former Nashville forward Patric Hornqvist is one of three for the Penguins. A check of
Senators at Penguins, late (Series tied 3-3) NHL rosters shows 79 skaters and 10 goalies from Sweden played during the regular season, with 40 appearing in at least one playoff game.
“There’s a lot of people watching us back home,” Aberg said.
Penguins forward Oskar Sundqvist agreed: “I know a lot of my friends stay up basically the whole night and watch games. I think it’s growing every day in Sweden, and it’s just getting bigger and bigger.”
Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said Sweden has become a hockey power for a small country. Teammates with Borje Salming and Inge Hammarstrom in 1976 in Toronto, Carlyle saw the abuse directed at both.
“That was a little bit more barbaric or archaic times of hockey,” Carlyle said. “But that’s how much the game has grown, and it has become a world-class game. And these players are worldclass players and now you’re looking at their contribution and the numbers that are in the NHL, it’s all a tribute back to those two players.”
Predators: Captain Mike Fisher said he feels a lot better and his goal is to be available during the Stanley Cup Final that begins Monday. Fisher skated for the first time with his teammates since being injured May 18 in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals. He took a knee from Anaheim defenseman Josh Manson off the right side of his head and hasn’t played since.
Ducks: Defensemen Hampus Lindholm and Sami Vatanen need shoulder surgeries that will sideline them into next season, general manager Bob Murray said. Lindholm will be out for four to five months, and Vatanen will be sidelined longer. The defensemen tore their labrums during the postseason but kept playing.