The Tampa Bay Lightning’s presence at the NHL All-Star Game just got a little stronger as Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has been added to the Atlantic Division roster.
In the beginning, there were two. When the NHL All-Star Game roster was officially announced on January 3, the Tampa Bay Lightning had just two players making their way to San Jose for the league-wide festivities; Lightning captain Steven Stamkos and forward Nikita Kucherov.
After it was announced Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price would not be attending the NHL All-Star game, suddenly another spot on the Atlantic Division roster became available. The question would become which player in the Division would be filling Price’s spot between the pipes.
Just before noon today, hockey fans around the world got the answer they were looking for. The NHL announced earlier this afternoon Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy would be making his way to the SAP Center in San Jose. This will be Vasilevskiy’s second consecutive NHL All-Star Game appearance.
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Andrei Vasilevskiy has been on quite the rollercoaster ride this season. Vasy went 9-3-1 to start off the season. Regrettably, this is when tragedy would strike the young goaltender. Andrei Vasilevskiy would fracture his foot in practice, causing him to miss almost an entire month.
The only good news here is the Tampa Bay Lightning had a goaltender ready and willing to step in between the pipes during Vasilevskiy’s absence. Lightning netminder Louis Domingue went 11-3-0 during Vasilevskiy’s absence, showing the entire NHL the Lightning is indeed one of the top teams to beat this season.
In his first game back from injury, Vasilevskiy showed the Bolts Nation and everyone else in the NHL he hadn’t missed a single beat while out with his Lower-Body Injury. On December 13, the Lightning took on the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Amalie Arena in Tampa. Vasilevskiy faced a whopping 49 shots on goal through three periods of hockey, allowing a mere one goal to reach the back of the net.
This spectacular performance not only earned him the First Star of the Game, but gave him a rock solid Save Percentage of .980. It could definitely be argued this game was the best game of the year by the Tampa Bay Lightning. It was most certainly Vasilevskiy’s game of the year thus far.
Since then, Vasilevskiy has gone 6-1-1, bringing his season total to 16-4-2 for the season, thus far. Through the first half of the season, Andrei Vasilevskiy has a Save Percentage of .920 and a Goals Against Average of 2.66. Vasy is currently ninth place in the league in wins. Imagine where he’d be if he hadn’t fallen to injury.
The 2019 NHL All-Star Game is set to take place on January 26 at the SAP Center in San Jose, home of the San Jose Sharks. The event is set to kick off at 8:00 p.m. ET and will be aired on NBC.