Tampa Bay Lightning G Andrei Vasilevskiy Would Love To Have This One Back (Video)
Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy would undoubtedly love to have this particular goal back against the Arizona Coyotes.
The Tampa Bay Lightning finds themselves in a rather precarious position at the moment. The Lightning is currently doing battle with the Arizona Coyotes in what has quickly become a must-win game for the Bolts if they have any desire in keeping their playoff hopes alive.
The Lightning looked as if they were ready to get down to business in the early moments of the first period, but it wasn’t entirely too long before things took a decidedly wrong turn and the tide suddenly shifted out of the favor of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Unfortunately for the Lightning and their fans, one of the first memorable moments of the game won’t be showing up in any sort of Highlight Reel and definitely does nothing to raise morale here in the Bolts Nation. Regrettably, the one affected the most by the situation is undoubtedly Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.
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The play was headed into the Lightning defensive zone. As usual, Andrei Vasilevskiy channeled his inner Ben Bishop and attempted to play the puck behind the net. Unfortunately, this is the aforementioned moment when everything went wrong for the Lightning.
Arizona Coyotes forward Lawson Crouse was able to beat defenseman Jake Dotchin into the zone. Quickly, Crouse is in the face of Vasilevskiy, who is still behind the net trying to get control of the puck. Before Vasy even knew what happened, Crouse had wrestled control of the puck and sent it flying in front of the net.
Vasilevskiy tried to get back in front of the net to make the save, but he simply wasn’t quick enough. Coyotes rookie winger Christian Fischer would get control of the puck and easily put it in the back of the net to open up the scoring for Arizona.
It’s pretty safe to say this is one of those moments Andrei Vasilevskiy would love to forget and would do just about anything to get back. The cause of this whole situation is one of those things we sincerely wish Vasy would learn from moving forward.
For most of the season, Vasilevskiy has tried to transform his game and has seemingly worked towards adding some characteristics of former Lightning netminder Ben Bishop’s game into his own. As most Lightning fans know, Bishop is incredibly skilled at playing the puck, both in front of and behind the net.
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Unfortunately, Vasilevskiy is not Ben Bishop and should not strive to be. As much as he may try, Vasilevskiy does not currently play the puck with the efficiency or efficacy as Bishop. Until he improves in this particular area, Vasy will need to be mindful of when he incorporates this into his game.
Vasy tried hard to get back in front of the net and make the stop. We definitely give him credit for trying. Unfortunately, at this point in the season, trying and not succeeding can be the difference between playing hockey and playing golf when April comes around.
There is still plenty of hockey to be played and plenty of opportunities for the Tampa Bay Lightning to turn things around against the Arizona Coyotes. The Coyotes not only played last night, but they also suffered a loss at the hands of the Nashville Predators.
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The Lightning needs to find a way to exploit this and catch them off guard. If they can accomplish this, the team should be able to bring home the much-needed two points.