Montreal Canadiens<\/a> earlier this week,\u00a0there was a narrative surrounding Andrei Vasilevskiy\u00a0we weren\u2019t used to. The Tampa Bay Lightning netminder has always been a sure thing.\u00a0The great equalizer. Something the Lightning and their fans never had to spend a moment\u00a0worrying about.\u00a0Vasilevskiy is intimidating,\u00a0both due to his size and the aura he\u2019s built up through multiple\u00a0Cup runs. He once seemed unbeatable\u00a0and impenetrable.\u00a0<\/p>\nNow?\u00a0There are doubts about his game in the biggest moments. For the first time, he seems human.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because his numbers over the past few post-seasons have been very un-Vasilevskiy-like.\u00a0Heading into that crucial\u00a0Game 2 on Tuesday against the Canadiens,\u00a0Vasilevskiy\u2019s\u00a0stats\u00a0had cratered since\u00a0the\u00a0start of the\u00a02023 post-season.\u00a0Over that stretch, Vasilevskiy owns an .878 save percentage,\u00a0a 4-13 record, minus-four goals saved above expected, and he\u2019s allowed four or more goals on eight different occasions.\u00a0Not surprisingly, Tampa hasn\u2019t won a playoff series during this span either.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This dip comes while Vasilevskiy\u00a0is still posting strong regular-season numbers.\u00a0He\u2019s been among the best in save percentage and goals saved above expected\u00a0over the past couple of seasons, though there\u2019s been a drastic\u00a0decline\u00a0when the postseason arrives.\u00a0With some key members of the Lightning\u2019s core getting older, cap constraints and mounting injuries, Vasilevskiy is no longer a luxury for Tampa. They need him to\u00a0be\u00a0elite if they\u2019re going to win and keep their contention window open.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, what has changed for Vasilevskiy over the past few post-seasons?\u00a0During a playoff broadcast in 2023, Derek Lalonde, a former Lightning assistant then coaching\u00a0the Detroit Red Wings, noted that\u00a0at times Vasilevskiy struggled\u00a0picking up shots from the point,\u00a0and teams\u00a0have been trying to take advantage of it ever since.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When the Lightning won the Cup\u00a0in 2020, Vasilevskiy\u00a0had a\u00a0.946 save percentage on screened shots\u00a0during the postseason, according to SportLogiq.\u00a0In the 2023 playoffs, though, Vasilevskiy\u2019s numbers plummeted in that area, down to a brutal .773\u00a0in an opening round loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.\u00a0Last year, the Florida Panthers again capitalized\u00a0with traffic in front, as Vasilevskiy\u00a0only had a mark of .842 on screened shots.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A similar pattern can be seen on deflected shots.\u00a0Vasilevskiy\u2019s save percentage\u00a0off of tips was .943 in 2021, but fell to\u00a0.750 in 2023 and .667 in 2025.\u00a0It\u2019s not exactly a unique strategy to get pucks and bodies to the net during the playoffs, but you can see Montreal making a concerted effort to create chaos around Vasilevskiy in this series. Josh Anderson\u2019s disallowed goal in Game 1 is a good example. You can see all the bodies Vasilevskiy has to fight through\u00a0just to see the shot.<\/p>\n
What makes\u00a0this development in Vasilevskiy\u2019s play so interesting is Vasilevskiy\u2019s size. At six-foot-four,\u00a0Vasilevskiy is one of the bigger goalies in the league, so you\u2019d think shots through traffic and off deflections would\u00a0have a better chance at hitting him compared to some other netminders. Though that hasn\u2019t been the case in recent\u00a0post-seasons,\u00a0and opposing teams are taking advantage of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To his credit,\u00a0though,\u00a0Vasilevskiy responded to the doubters in Game 2 against the Canadiens. He stopped\u00a025-of-27 shots, guiding\u00a0Tampa to only its second overtime win in the playoffs in\u00a0the last 13 tries. Montreal is proving a massive challenge to the Lightning, and Vasilevskiy\u00a0needs to be at his peak\u00a0for Tampa to advance. Or at minimum, the best goalie in the series.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One strong performance won\u2019t bring back all the mystique Vasilevskiy spent several springs creating.\u00a0There is a different confidence in opposing shooters that are barreling down on him\u00a0now, as teams believe they can solve the\u00a0puzzle of Vasilevskiy that once seemed like a fruitless endeavour.\u00a0Vasilevskiy used to often have shooters beat before they even\u00a0shot. If the Lightning have one more long playoff run left in them, Vasilevskiy has to find a way\u00a0to get that edge back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 2022 NHL draft\u00a0didn\u2019t have all the fanfare around it like other drafts in recent memory.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There wasn\u2019t really a consensus No. 1 pick, and Shane Wright, who was\u00a0thought by many\u00a0to be the top selection, ended up falling to fourth overall.\u00a0Juraj Slafkovsky\u00a0went first to the Montreal Canadiens, a pick some questioned at the time. Those questions appeared justified after Slafkovsky\u2019s\u00a0rookie season, where he tallied\u00a0just four goals and 10 points.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, Slafkovsky has been on a\u00a0slow and steady ascension\u00a0since then,\u00a0and\u00a0he\u2019s announcing his arrival in these Stanley Cup Playoffs\u00a0in spectacular fashion. The\u00a022-year-old\u00a0had a hat trick and seven shots in a Game 1 win over the Lightning, which included the overtime winner to silence the crowd. If you\u2019re a Canadiens fan, though, Slafkovsky\u2019s performance isn\u2019t all that surprising.\u00a0He\u2019s improved his point total every year since that rookie season\u00a0and finished 2025-26 with 30 goals and 73\u00a0points. It\u2019s starting to feel like\u00a0his blend of size and skill is going to make Slafkovsky one of the league\u2019s great power forwards for years to come.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s Logan Cooley, who went\u00a0third overall\u00a0in that same draft\u00a0to the then Arizona Coyotes\u00a0and now Utah Mammoth. The Mammoth\u00a0are making their first-ever playoff appearance, and it\u2019s clear\u00a0Cooley is one of the biggest catalysts for their offence. He\u2019s notched a pair of goals in the series, which includes the game-winning tally in Game 2 to give Utah its first post-season victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cooley was on pace for his second straight 65-point campaign before injuries derailed his season. Like Slafkovsky, Cooley isn\u2019t putting up eye-popping numbers like\u00a0other\u00a0high-end picks from recent years, like Macklin Celebrini or Matthew Schaefer, but both are already proving they can shine on the big stage.\u00a0Maybe the 2022 draft won\u2019t go down as one of the all-time great classes, though it\u2019s safe to say Montreal and Utah are both very happy with their selections.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If you were looking for words to describe the Philadelphia Flyers\u00a0over the past several seasons, stale, bland, mediocre and average would come to mind. The Flyers had missed the playoffs\u00a0for five straight seasons heading into this year,\u00a0and for the past four of those\u00a0campaigns, they finished between sixth and eighth in the Metro.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, in 2025-26,\u00a0Philly has been one of the league\u2019s great stories.\u00a0Looking destined to miss the playoffs once again, Rick Tocchet\u2019s crew made an inspired\u00a0run down the stretch\u00a0thanks to the goaltending of Dan Vladar and a new energy around the team.\u00a0That came from Porter Martone, who burst on the scene for the final\u00a0nine\u00a0games of the regular season and tallied 10 points. He also recorded\u00a014 shots over his first two outings, proving he wasn\u2019t simply going to dip his toe in the water. Martone hit the ground running.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That mentality has followed him right into the playoffs. Martone notched the game-winning goal in Games 1 and 2 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, becoming the first teenager in NHL history to accomplish the feat.\u00a0The 19-year-old doesn\u2019t look blinded by the bright lights\u00a0of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and has already been the biggest difference maker in the series.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Martone is a great example of how\u00a0one\u00a0young talent\u00a0can inject life into a team. The narrative around the Flyers in recent years is over, as Martone\u00a0has instantly made them more dynamic and tougher to defend.\u00a0If you look at\u00a0players like Celebrini, Schaefer and now Martone, it\u2019s evident that a high lottery pick\u00a0can make a massive difference to the future and perception of your franchise.<\/p>\n
It looks like Martone is just getting started, and\u00a0we can probably expect the Flyers to be\u00a0an\u00a0annual participant in the post-season going forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If you wanted to model your franchise after someone in the National Hockey League, you could do a lot worse than the Dallas Stars.\u00a0The Stars have embodied the draft and develop strategy, managing to\u00a0find\u00a0gems\u00a0later in drafts while constantly competing for Stanley Cups.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of those\u00a0talents is Wyatt Johnston, who the Stars\u00a0chose\u00a0with the 23rd-overall pick in\u00a0the 2021 draft. Johnston already feels like a major steal for the Stars, getting better and better every year, and culminating in a 45-goal, 86-point campaign in 2025-26.\u00a0He also led the entire NHL in power-play goals this season, and if you did a re-draft of that class, you could make a case that Johnston should\u2019ve been\u00a0a top-five pick.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still only 22, Johnston appears to be experienced beyond his years thanks to being a part of a handful of deep post-season runs\u00a0with Dallas already. Johnston has been to three conference finals in his first three post-seasons, and he hasn\u2019t just been a passenger.\u00a0After a pair of goals in Game 2 against the Minnesota Wild\u00a0and the overtime winner in Game 3, Johnston is now up to 21\u00a0career playoff goals.\u00a0Ten of those also came in one incredible performance during the 2024 post-season.<\/p>\n
That puts Johnston\u00a0in some pretty good company with plenty of runway left to go for his career. He\u2019s already surpassed some impressive names like Rick Nash, Paul Kariya, Keith Primeau, Todd Bertuzzi, Ron Ellis, Tom Wilson, Taylor Hall\u00a0and several other\u00a0notable\u00a0players on the all-time playoff goal list.\u00a0Did I mention that he\u2019s still only 22 years of age? Expect him to climb up even further\u00a0on the ladder as soon as this spring.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It feels like\u00a0Johnston\u2019s career is just getting started, though\u00a0he\u2019s already built an impressive playoff resume that many\u00a0accomplished players would be jealous of.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Friday Four is a collection of thoughts and information on some intriguing player storylines from around the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-625545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}