Tampa Bay Lightning Year In Review: Kristers Gudlevskis
As the Tampa Bay Lightning prepare themselves for the 2016-17 season, let’s take a quick look back at the 2015-16 season of Lightning goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis.
The Tampa Bay Lightning dealt with far more than their fair share of injuries last season. If some of you remember that far back, there was a point in time where the Lightning had no fewer than nine players on the injured list at the same time.
While this definitely made things a lot more difficult for Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper, it opened the door for some of the Lightning’s younger talent, who spend a majority of their time playing for the Lightning’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, a time to shine.
As most Lightning fans recall, there was a point and time in the season when Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy was sent to play a series of games with the Syracuse Crunch. This was not a punishment for Vasilevskiy, rather an opportunity to get more ice time and prevent and rink rust from accumulating.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Obviously, while Ben Bishop was able to hold down the house, the Lightning still needed someone on the bench “just in case.” Thankfully, over the course of Vasilevskiy’s stint in Syracuse, Kristers Gudlevskis was able to watch from the bench and have an opportunity to observe a goalie like Ben Bishop.
Unfortunately, there was one point in the season where Gudlevskis services were needed. Before the onset of the 2015-16 season, doctors located a blood clot near Andrei Vasilevskiy’s collarbone, which would require surgery to remove. This cause Vasy to miss the preseason and the first month of the regular season.
On October 24th, 2015, Kristers Gudlevskis was called upon to take the ice with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning had a tough challenge in front of them. The Bolts were set to take on former Stanley Cup Champions, the Chicago Blackhawks.
While Gudlevskis wasn’t able to secure the win in this particular encounter, it certainly wasn’t because of any massive error on his part. In fact, Gudlevskis played a pretty solid game. Gudlevskis was able to block 31 of 32 shots, the game-winner being in the overtime period, for a Save Percentage of .969.
Given the number of shots along with the skill-level of the team, he found himself facing, Kristers Gudlevskis did a pretty solid job of guarding the pipes for the Lightning. Unfortunately, this would be the one and only time he would take the ice for the Lightning that season.
The remainder of Gudlevskis’ season would be spent with the Syracuse Crunch. Much like his time with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Gudlevskis would put on quite a show for Syracuse fans. In the 41 games the Latvian goaltender would play in, he was able to maintain a 16-12-2 record along with a Goals Against Average of 2.83 and a Save Percentage of .907.
As some of you may have heard by now, there are rumors going around that once Ben Bishop’s contract expires at the end of the season the Tampa Bay Lightning may choose to go another direction and give the starting spot to Andrei Vasilevskiy.
While we would like to see Bishop on the ice for quite a few more seasons, should this come to pass, this would give Gudlevskis an opportunity to potentially make his way to the Lightning’s main roster on a more permanent basis.
Next: Tampa Bay Lightning Year In Review: Nikita Nesterov
Only time will tell how the situation between the pipes will play out, but if Kristers Gudlevskis continues to play the way he has over the course of the last few seasons, he could very well find himself in the Sunshine State sooner rather than later.