Tampa Bay Lightning young goaltender showed some key signs of growing in to his role against Detroit

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
October 26, 2017

TAMPA – Signs, signs, everywhere there’s signs.

Blocking out the scenery, breaking my mind.

Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign.

For Andrei Vasilevskiy, there was one important sign he put on display Thursday as the Tampa Bay Lightning won yet again, knocking off the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 at Amalie Arena.

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The young Lightning goaltender, still just 23 years of age and in his first stint as a No. 1 netminder, appeared in his 100th career game on Thursday, his 91st career start. The victory gave him 50 for his career.

Those are minor milestones, not signs.

Vasilevskiy recorded his eighth consecutive victory, tied for second longest winning streak by a goaltender in franchise history.

Again, a milestone of sorts being one more victory away from putting his name in the franchise record books, not any sort of a sign.

I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes.

The one big sign of where Vasilevskiy is in his development of being a top-flight goaltender (and honestly, borderline elite) is how he played in Thursday’s game. Because, to be quite honest, it was far from his best effort.

Somewhere, somebody just rolled their eyes in reading that sentence. But it’s true. Vasilevskiy struggled at times against the Red Wings even as he allowed just the two goals on 31 shots, which, on the surface looks like a really good night.

”If you are going to sit here and give up two goals a night, every night, there’s a good chance you will be in Vegas in June (for the Awards show),’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “That’s a heckuva night. He’s not going to stop every single puck.’’

That’s a very true statement from the head coach. And giving up two or less goals is something Vasilevskiy has excelled at with a streak of six consecutive games of allowing two or fewer goals. He’s allowed a total of seven goals in those six games.

So Vasilevskiy has been very good during this streak, and honestly, he’s been very good all year even when he was given up three or four goals a night in his first handful of starts.

That’s why this might seem a little like splitting hairs saying Vasilevskiy was not at his best on Thursday, but he wasn’t. Watching him make a number of stops, he didn’t look comfortable or at ease as he has for a good portion of the season.

In the simplest term, Vasilevskiy looked like he was fighting the puck throughout the game. Pucks that he would absorb or smother were bouncing off him on more than a few occasions. Shots were fluttering off his glove, including one that just trickled wide as It went off the glove.

He looked crossed up on a few long range shots, with his arms crossed in a defensive position like he was unsure of where the puck was until it found him, leaving rebounds in areas that could lead to dangerous opportunities.

”I think I wasn’t perfect tonight,’’ Vasilevskiy said. “I gave up lots of rebounds, but sometimes the team will help me and some games I will help them. So teamwork.’’

His teammates were absolutely there for him, cleaning up pucks out of those potentially dangerous areas, clearing bodies out of those areas to ensure the Red Wings were unable to get to those loose pucks.

So, what exactly is the sign that continues to be referenced in the upper paragraphs of this article?

The sign of maturity from a young goaltender who was not on top of his game yet still found a way to win, making the saves for his team when challenged. That’s what Vasilevskiy did right to the end of the game as the Red Wings had a late power play chance with 1:23 left.

It’s the sign of a maturing goaltender who is able to fight through it when he feels he’s fighting it during the game, and Vaslievskiy had his battles with the puck at various times. Yet, he allowed just the two goals – the first a shorthanded 2-on-1 chance, the second an open chance in close during a 6-on-4 power play with 1:49 left in the game.

Vasilevskiy had a sliding save in the opening period where he made himself big by getting his left leg up as high as possible, looking like Martin Brodeur with a semi-stacked save. Vasilevskiy stopped Andreas Athanasiou with 2:49 left in the second period.

Fighting through whatever struggles he felt he was having, even if it didn’t appear that way even to the head coach.

”I’m shocked you guys are saying he wasn’t at his best, I thought he was great,’’ Cooper said. “When your team breaks down you need somebody to bail you out, and he did that.’’

And perhaps that shows how subtle of a sign it was in watching Vasilevskiy play on Thursday. Certainly a lot of it gets overshadowed by the play of Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov, both of whom scored again on Thursday to increase each of their scoring streaks to 11 games to become the first pair of teammates since 1992-93 to start the season with points in 11-or-more consecutive games to start the season.

But there was a definite sign from the Lightning netmider that he understands that in order to be that reliable No. 1 goaltender he has to fight through games like he had Thursday and find a way to give his team a chance to win the game. And just as they have been doing for most of the early season, the Lightning found a way to win the game.

That’s an even better sign.

Postgame notes:. C Cedric Paquette missed his fourth consecutive game with an unspecified upper body injury and Cooper said Thursday morning he expects Paquette to miss a couple of weeks. … Tampa Bay scratched D Slater Koekkoek and RW Gabriel Dumont. … C Steven Stamkos and RW Nikita Kucherov each extended their season-opening scoring streak to 11 games, to tie the team record to start the season set by Marty St. Louis. … The power play goal by Stamkos was his 214th career power play point which moved him past Brad Richards for third most in franchise history. … D Mikhail Sergachev registered a point to extend his scoring streak to five games. His 10 points through 11 games is one short of what Zach Werenski (Columbus) had last year, which is the most by a teenage defenseman in the past 30 years.

My three stars:
1.Lightning RW Nikita Kucherov – Goal, assist, 7 shots on goal, 13 shot attempts

2.Lightning C Steven Stamkos – Goal, four shots, atoned for early giveaway

3. Lightning G Andrei Vasilevskiy – Finished with 29 saves to win his eighth consecutive game

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