Poll: Who should start in goal for Lightning next week

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
December 24, 2016

TAMPA, Fla. –With Ben Bishop out of the lineup for up to a month, the Lightning will turn to Andrei Vasielvskiy as the No. 1 goaltender.

But here is an interesting question, how many starts does head coach Jon Cooper and his staff give to Vaseilevskiy while Bishop is out. Leading up to the All-Star break, Tampa Bay has four more sets of back-to-back games.

Twice this season, Vasilevskiy has started two games in a row and not made it to the finish in either of the second games in which he has played.

Vasilevskiy got the start in St. Louis on Dec. 1 and was pulled early in the second period after allowing four goals. Not his fault, mind you, but he didn’t finish the game. Then on Friday at Washington, Vasilevskiy again did not make it to the end of the game, being replaced by Kristers Gudlevskis in the third period after allowing four goals. Can’t blame Vasilevskiy too much on this one, though the opening goal 55 seconds in to the game did go off the heel of his glove, which made an already difficult game more of an uphill climb.

So, with that in mind it will be interesting to see exactly how the games are split up when the Lightning resume play on Wednesday to start a back-to-back at home against Montreal followed by Toronto on Thursday.

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I’m running a poll on Twitter (see below) on who you think should start in goal in those games, with four options:
Vasilevskiy both games

Vasilevskiy Wednesday and Gudlevskis on Thursday

Gudlevskis on Wednesday and Vasilevskiy on Thursday

Gudlevskis both games

Also, while you are submitting your votes, reminder that I will be filling Wednesday and Thursday in for Steve Duemig on the Opening Faceoff show that airs at 4 p.m. on tblpowerplay.com as well as on the Lightning Power Play station on the I Heart Radio app.

And one quick update the Lightning have signed 2014 draft pick Mathieu Joseph to an entry-level contract. Joseph will begin play with Team Canada at the World Junior Championships on Monday.

Here’s the poll:

#TBLighting have back-to-back games Wed-Thurs vs Montreal-Toronto, if you're Cooper, who starts those games: answer the poll

— Erik Erlendsson (@Erik_Erlendsson) December 24, 2016

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