Going against the grain to start Vasilevskiy over Bishop doesn’t pay off

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
February 23, 2017

TAMPA, Fla. – Sometimes the coaching manual is followed to the letter.

Every dot is followed, ever tee is crossed and everything goes by the book.

But sometimes, the playbook is tossed to the side and the unconventional approach is used.

When it works, the coach looks like a genius. When it doesn’t workout, well, it opens the door to second guessing.

It was the later that came to the forefront even before the Lightning took to the ice ahead of Thursday’s 3-2 loss to the Calgary Flames at Amalie Arena.

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Tampa Bay entered the game riding a season-long, seven-game points streak to at least get back in to the conversation of being in the playoff picture. The 5-0-2 stretch pulled the Lightning to within four points of a playoff spot and that gap could have closed to just a pair of points with a victory against Calgary.

During the run of success, Ben Bishop had been in net for the five victories. Andrei Vasilevskiy was in net for the pair of overtime losses.

Bishop had not given up more than two goals in any of those five starts.

So the conventional play was to go back to Bishop as the Lightning try to close the gap in the standings. Instead, Tampa Bay called upon Andrei Vasilevskiy, who had just one victory in his previous 11 starts.

Make it one win in the past 12 starts as the Lightning opted to stick with a familiar pattern that has been followed most of the season when both goaltenders were healthy. Only once this season has either started three consecutive games, when both were available.

”Bish had started two in a row and if Vasy doesn’t play tonight, then he goes how long without playing,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “We’ve done this all year. It’s not one of these situations where guys are going weeks without playing. We don’t sit here and say Bish is going to play every single game down the stretch. But the goals we’ve been giving up, we’ve been giving up as a team, it’s not the goaltender.’’

That’s partially true. The goals surrendered against the Flames can hardly be pinned on the goaltender. The first two Calgary goals came on deflections, the first that the ice and popped up in the air like it just hit the season of the turf at Tropicana Field and bounced in to the net. The second goal came on self-deflection by Sean Monohan, who deflected a Johnny Gaudreau backhander from one side of the net to the other and had an easy tap in for his 100th career goal to put Calgary up 2-1 at 6:25 of the second period.

The third goal, which came on a power play and proved to the game-winner, beat Vasilevskiy high to the short side with 2:58 remaining.

”Couple of breakdowns on their goals, some great tips and they are in,’’ Cooper said. “You have to feel for him that we can’t give him more support.’’

But, for whatever reason, Vasilevskiy is not getting the results right now that the Lightning need at the most critical time of the season. Maybe it’s the way Tampa Bay plays in front of Vasilevskiy compared to Bishop.

Maybe it’s Bishop’s stickhanding abilities that allow the Lightning to play faster and start the breakouts higher up the ice. Maybe it’s because of how Bishop, who has been the No. 1 for three years, can handle the puck that adjusting when Vasilevskiy plays is difficult.

Whatever the reason, the difference has been noticeable this season, particularly in recent games.

”Ultimately you give up goals as a team and it’s not the goaltender, it’s the team that gives them up,’’ Cooper said. “You give up three, the game is in the balance and there’s the magic number. We gave up three and couldn’t do it.’’

Maybe that was the biggest reason of all that logic would dictate Bishop would get the nod on Thursday as he’s given up fewer than three in each of his five starts during the stretch.

Of course, given how the Lightning played against the Flames, it might not have mattered who was in net.

Tampa Bay had just 12 shots on goal through two periods and just 22 shot attempts. With little zone time, very few scoring chances created and no way of generating enough energy, Tamnpa Bay was unable to build on a 1-0 lead after the first period courtesy of Vladislav Namesntnikov, who scored for the third consecutive game.

Tampa Bay, which looked energized in the first three games since returning from the bye week, looked more sluggish and slow against a Calgary team that did a good job of holding the Lightning through the neutral zone and getting in the way of passing lanes in the offensive zone.

Cooper said that was more the result of his team more than anything Calgary was doing.

”I’m pinning that game on us,’’ he said. “If I thought there was a game we weren’t going to have the energy for, I thought it would be the Edmonton game (on Tuesday). I did not think tonight was going to be the game. So that was a little unfortunate. In games we’ve been finding our way to get to the net. We’ve been shooting pucks. To have 22 shot attempts after two periods in games that we’re getting 70-plus, it’s hard to win.

“We couldn’t get our way through the neutral zone because we weren’t executing, which is a lot of reason why we’ve had success here in the last month or so, we didn’t do tonight. That’s going to happen, but the problem is we’ve already used up our gimmes. We don’t have anymore. That’s what makes this one tough because this game was right for the taking, even if we weren’t at our best tonight, it was still right for the taking and we couldn’t do it.”

But that doesn’t help out Vasilevskiy, who was noticeable frustrated at times during the game and visably shaken as he skated off the ice at the conclusion of the game.

”It’s a tough league to win in,’’ left wing Alex Killorn said. “I feel bad. We want to win games for him so hopefully we can do that next time he’s in net.’’

Postgame notes:. D Anton Stralman played in his 600th career game and was greeted by his family by golden balloons with 6-0-0 as he took the ice for warmups. … LW Jonathan Drouin missed the game while dealing the effects of the flu, which he’s been battling for nearly a week. … C Tyler Johnson appeared in his 300th career game. … D Luke Witkowski was a healthy scratch for the fifth consecutive game. …. Tampa Bay split the season series with Calgary and dropped to 9-11-4 to Western Conference teams. … With three days off between games, the Lightning ran their top two lines out as much as possible on Thursday, with each of the top six forwards logging at least 18 minutes of ice time. …

My three stars:
1.Flames D Dougie Hamilton – Goal, two assists, plus-2, five shots on goal

2.Flames C Mikael Backlund – Goal, assist, plus-1, eight shot attempts

3.Flames G Brian Elliott – Finished with 23 saves, 12 in the third period

Jon Cooper speaks to the media following the game

Postgame reaction from Killorn, Point and Namestnikov

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