Last year, he did that in 11 of 23 games.Īge and the salary cap are catching up to much of the Lightning roster. And in nearly half of the Lightning’s postseason games this season - eight of 17 - he’s allowed one or zero goals. Yet only three ever accomplished both at a younger age than Vasilevskiy, who won the Vezina at age 24 and the Conn Smythe at age 26: Ken Dryden, Ron Hextall and … Roy himself, who had both trophies in his case by age 23.īut of those, only Dryden was a Finals mainstay at such a young age as Vasilevskiy is. He’s one of eight goaltenders to win the Conn Smythe Trophy (playoff MVP) and Vezina Trophy (best goaltender) in his career. And like both of them, Vasilevskiy gives the Lightning a puncher’s chance when everything else short-circuits. He is to the Lightning what Patrick Roy was to the Avs and Martin Brodeur to the New Jersey Devils. They’re deeper, too.īut where the Avs have a question mark, Tampa Bay has the answer: goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. One can argue the Avalanche have advantages up and down the matchup board. EVERYTHING STARTS WITH ANDREI VASILEVSKIY What you need to know about the Lightning:ġ. “We created a monster,” Tortorella told The Athletic earlier this spring.Īnd now that battle-hardened monster is what stands between the Avs and the Stanley Cup. And now they sit in their third straight Stanley Cup Final, becoming the first team to make three consecutive finals since the 1983-85 Edmonton Oilers. He knew how to defuse his old team.īut it was the aftermath that launched the Lightning to their greatest success yet. Guiding Columbus then was John Tortorella, who was behind the bench for the Lightning’s 2004 Stanley Cup win. Against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Tampa Bay became the first Presidents’ Trophy winners ever to get swept out of the first round.
Only in the 2018-19 postseason did they lay an egg, and it was as embarrassing a playoff faceplant as has ever been seen in professional sports. In their two Conference Finals defeats in that span, they took the eventual Stanley Cup winners to seven games. In the eight seasons starting with 2014-15, Tampa Bay has two Stanley Cups, four conference championships, six appearances in the Eastern Conference Final and a Presidents’ Trophy.
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