The episode premieres Friday at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN+ in the United States and
YouTube.com/NHL
in Canada.
In this episode, it seems the Lightning defenseman is always looking for something positive, including the documentary's camera crew, which he calls "our good luck charm."
Hedman had teammate Kevin Shattenkirk buy him a coffee each game day during the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, which were played in secure quarantine bubbles in Toronto and Edmonton.
The Lightning ended up defeating the Dallas Stars to win the Cup for the first time since 2004.
The coffee ritual played a part in Hedman's mind, it seems. The few times Shattenkirk forgot to hold up his end of the bargain, the Lightning lost.
The 2021 postseason is being conducted in the cities of the teams involved, but Hedman remains a man of routines, from taking the same route to and from the rink, getting dressed the same way, and sitting in the same seat at the same restaurant they ate at before each road game against the Carolina Hurricanes during the Stanley Cup Second Round.
"'Stammer' (forward Steven Stamkos) was sitting in my seat," Hedman said. "I had to move him to the right, so I could have my seat back."
The Lightning defeated the Hurricanes 2-0 on Tuesday, winning the best-of-7 series in five games. They will play the New York Islanders, who defeated the Boston Bruins 6-2 on Wednesday to win that second-round series in six.
"If you want me to throw a whole bunch of clichés out there I can," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Take them all, ball them all up into one and that's the effort these guys gave. You need that if you want to advance because I'm going to tell you, those are two of the toughest rounds we've ever faced. It was a hell of a grind to get out of this division."
