NHL players recently voted in an informal poll by NHL.com of who they most fear shooting against. The general consensus was that they know facing Tampa Bay means dodging Lightning to get the puck in the net as several players voted Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy as the most difficult goalie to score against.
The veteran Vasilevskiy has been with the Lightning since he was drafted over 13-years ago in the 1st round (pick No. 19 overall) of the 2012 NHL Draft and he has been dominant in front of the net. Over the course of his career he has an impressive 331-163 record through 540 games skated (530 starts in the net). Throughout that time he has saved .917 percent of the 16,107 shots against him. He also has 22 assists.
Vasilevskiy has helped lead the Lightning to 40 shutout wins.
He has appeared in 120 Stanley Cup playoff games, accumulating 67 wins, leading Tampa Bay to seven playoff shutouts and has saved .918 percent of the shots against him throughout the playoffs.
Vasilevskiy was a part of Tampa’s 2020 and 2021 Stanley Cup Champion teams, appearing in 25 playoff games in 2020 and 23 playoff games in 2021. He was won the Conn Smythe Trophy once (2020-2021), and the Vezina Trophy once (2018-2019). He is a five-time All-Star (2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023), made the First All-Star Team in 2019 and 2021, and was named to the NHL’s Second All-Star Team in 2025.
Throught the course of the 2024-25 season, the 31-year old from Tyumen, Russia was 38-20 through 63 games skated. He had 1,716 shots against him last season and saved .921 percent of those shots, his best shot save percentage since 2020-21 (.925) when the Lightning went on to win the Stanley Cup Championship.
All of those accolades and his impressive shot save percentage and ability to block the net cause opposing players to fear him. For one player, however, he’s now happy Vasilevskiy is his teammate.
Jake Guentzel signed with the Lightning as a free agent prior to last season. For the previous eight season he was with the Carolina Hurricanes and made just four goals of the 39 shots he attempted (10.3 percent) in 10 games against the Lightning ace in the net.
“I am glad he’s on my team,” Guentzel told NHL.com’s Shawn P. Roarke last week at the US Olympic Orientation Camp. “He’s huge. Moves so well, so agile and he is fast side to side,” said Guentzel who now calls Vasilevskiy his teammate.
This informal poll by NHL.com concluded “Goalie Week,” where NHL social celebrated goaltending.