The beginning of the 2023-24 season was not a good one for Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Vasilevskiy, 29, missed the first 20 games of the season while recovering from surgery to repair a herniated disc in his lower back. To make matters worse, the Lightning did not play well while Vasilevskiy was hurt.
The team lost a lot of games, did not look like themselves, and looked like a team that might end up missing the Stanley Cup playoffs. It was also not good that when Vasilevskiy returned from his injury, he did not play well.
When he came back, Vasilevskiy looked a bit lost between the pipes, He was allowing a lot of goals, giving up a bunch of soft goals, and he did not look like himself.
Luckily for the Lightning, things have changed for both the team and their goaltender. As of this writing (Sunday, April 7), the team has clinched a spot for the postseason and is currently in the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference with a 43-27-7 record for 93 points.
While Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov is getting all the attention due to the unbelievable season he is having (136 points on 43 goals and 93 assists), Vasilevskiy deserves some credit for finding his game at the right time.
For starters, he is back to winning a lot of games. Vasilevskiy is currently 29-18-0-2 with a 2.87 goals-against average, a .900 save percentage, and two shutouts.
Vasilevskiy’s next win will give him his seventh consecutive 30-win season. That is pretty amazing because he missed six weeks at the beginning of the season after undergoing back surgery.
According to Carol Schram of The Hockey News, if Vasilevskiy gets to 30 wins, will “join six others, including the likes of Ken Dryden, Henrik Lundqvist, and Ryan Miller, in a tie for the third-most consecutive 30-win seasons for a goalie“. Those are great names to be associated with, eh?
Secondly, Vasilevskiy has played extremely well over his last several starts. Just take a look at what he has done in his last five starts:
- March 27 vs. the Boston Bruins: Stopped 23 of 24 shots in a win.
- March 30 vs. the New York Islanders: Stopped 27 of 28 shots in a win.
- April 1 vs. the Detroit Red Wings: Stopped 28 of 31 shots in a loss.
- April 3 vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs: Stopped 28 of 29 shots in a win.
- April 6 vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins: Stopped 23 of 28 shots in a loss.
Yes, his most recent loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins was a clunker. With that said, in every game except one, he posted a save percentage of .903 or better.
Lastly, Vasilevskiy is back to making big saves for his hockey club. He made several of them in his team’s big 4-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs back on April 3 where if he did not, the Leafs could have gotten themselves right back into the game.
The Lightning may have taken a while to get there this season, but they look like Cup contenders at the most important time of the year. With Vasilevskiy back to being himself and looking as sharp as ever, winning the Cup for the third time in the last five seasons is not as far-fetched as it once seemed.
ITR 31: Let Them Fight – Inside The Rink
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