Tampa Bay Lightning G Andrei Vasilevskiy Smashes Stick In Utter Frustration (Video)
Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy shows his frustration in the 3rd period of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final by destroying his stick.
As much as Tampa Bay Lightning fans would like to say differently, there are not many positive things to say. Being brutally honest, after the first 10 minutes of the game, it almost seemed as if the Tampa Bay Lightning’s offense, which is usually so dangerous, had completely given up. When the final buzzer sounded, the Tampa Bay Lightning would fall 4-2 to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Unfortunately, in the society we live in today, we always have to lay blame on someone or something. In the game of hockey, the first person who usually gets a large chunk of the blame is the goaltender. Regrettably, there are some people here in the Bolts Nation that immediately jumped to blaming Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. The funny thing is, this couldn’t possibly be further from the truth.
Unlike Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Matt Murray, who only faced a grand total of 28 shots on goal over the course of three periods, Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy faced a whopping 48 shots on goal. Despite letting in four goals, Vasilevskiy still managed to come home with a Save Percentage of .917.
While the 21-year-old netminder doesn’t exactly have the best postseason record to speak of, he still has a Save Percentage of .935 with a Goals Against Average of 2.45. These numbers place Vasilevskiy in Sixth Place in the National Hockey League amongst goaltenders in terms of Save Percentage in the postseason.
The first thing people should take a step back and think about is who do you think is the most critical of the hockey player’s performance? If you said anything other than the individual player, you have clearly never played a sport (professional or recreational.) If you don’t think Andrei Vasilevskiy was frustrated at the outcome of Game 3, allow us to show you a little demonstration.
Towards the end of the third period, the Lightning were down 3-1. Andrei Vasilevskiy steps up to make an amazing save only to be completely failed by his defense on the rebound and before anybody is able to make a move, the Pittsburgh Penguins would increase their lead to 4-1.
As you can clearly tell from the video above, Andrei Vasilevskiy was not pleased in the slightest. With one quick stomp of his skate, he obliterated his stick and tossed it towards the Tampa Bay Lightning bench.
It’s pretty clear that neither the Tampa Bay Lightning nor their fans were incredibly impressed with the team’s performance last night. However, let’s take a moment and push all the darkness to the side for a moment. Let’s take a look at just one of the amazing saves Vasilevskiy was able to make over the course of his 44 save adventure at the Amalie Arena in Game 3.
In just a matter of moments, Vasilevskiy was able to turn away a shot from Penguins left wing Carl Hagelin, but also one from Penguins leading goal scorer Phil Kessel. The simple fact that Vasilevskiy was able to ward off shots from two of the most dangerous shooters the Penguins have to offer is amazing in itself.
The unfortunate fact of the matter here is the Tampa Bay Lightning doesn’t seem to play the same in front of Vasilevskiy as they do in front of Ben Bishop. There are always exceptions to this rule, Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals being one of them, but for the most part it is plain to see the disparity between the two types of play.
We’re not saying this is intentional by any means, as almost all the players have nothing but positive things to say about the young Russian netminder. It’s just an unfortunate truth that seems to become clearer with each passing day. Unfortunately, with the slight chance the Lightning may not be able to get Ben Bishop back into the lineup over the course of this series, they are going to have to dig deep and find a way to win.
As the old saying goes, the best defense is a good offense. The simple fact is, your opponent has absolutely zero chance of scoring as long as you have definitive control of the puck. Yes, there are going to be times when turnovers happen, but the onus is on the players in front of the net to get the puck going back in the right direction. The goaltender should be the last line of defense and not the first choice.
If you ask us, Andrei Vasilevskiy is an incredibly talented goaltender who has been faced with a series of unfortunate events. Despite all the adversity the team has faced, Vasy has always done his best to keep the Tampa Bay Lightning on top, and anyone who has anything negative to say about him clearly needs to watch more tape.
Next: Lightning Offense Fades In Game 3 Loss To Penguins
The Tampa Bay Lightning doesn’t have time to sit back and ponder all the things that went wrong in Game 3. Tomorrow night, the Lightning needs to be ready to charge back into the Amalie Arena to take on the Penguins in Game 4. There is no doubt the Lightning knows how to get the job done. They’ve done it once before, and they can do it again. Hopefully, this time, the team won’t hang their goaltender out to dry.