{"id":645359,"date":"2026-05-03T16:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T16:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/645359\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T16:05:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T16:05:12","slug":"vasilevskiy-on-mission-for-lightning-entering-game-7-of-eastern-1st-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/645359\/","title":{"rendered":"Vasilevskiy on mission for Lightning entering Game 7 of Eastern 1st Round"},"content":{"rendered":"

He certainly did that, no matter the motivation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a history of that,\u201d Cooper said when asked about Vasilevskiy\u2019s ability to rebound after a stumble. \u201cAnd as I\u2019ve watched him on numerous occasions, the bigger the stakes, the more intense the game, he seems to rise to the occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Cooper\u2019s point: It was Vasilevskiy\u2019s second career shutout in a game in which the Lightning could have been eliminated, joining Ben Bishop (2015) as their only goalies to ever accomplish the feat.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a reason why there will be so much focus on him in Game 7, not that he\u2019ll admit there is any.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s give props to Canadiens rookie goalie Jakub Dobes<\/a>\u00a0too; through the first six games, there has been little margin to choose from between the two goalies, let alone their teams. Their respective goals-against averages symbolize that (Dobes 2.19; Vasilevskiy 2.20), but there is an enormous gap when it comes to experience. Vasilevskiy is on a path to the Hockey Hall of Fame, helping the Lightning win the Stanley Cup twice (2020, 2021), the Conn Smythe Trophy as postseason MVP (2021); and the Vezina Trophy as the NHL\u2019s top goalie (2018-19); for which he is finalist again this season.<\/p>\n

Will that be enough on its own to end Tampa Bay\u2019s streak of being eliminated in the first round three consecutive times? That\u2019s one of the more intriguing storylines heading into Game 7.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear about one thing too — in Vasy\u2019s World, there are times when the veteran goalie, considered one of the funnier players by his teammates, does give the outside world a rare peek of emotion, high and low.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Remember the Stadium Series against the Boston Bruins on Feb. 1 when he and counterpart Jeremy Swayman<\/a>\u00a0dropped the gloves for the most famous goalie fight in recent memory?<\/p>\n

Asked afterward if he\u2019d ever been in a scrap before, he replied, \u201cJust on the street, yes. It’s not the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was just an experience of a lifetime,” he added about the Swayman bout. \u201cI’ll remember that for a long time. It was unreal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much like his performance was in Game 6, in this case when it came to stopping pucks, not throwing punches. The Lightning will be looking for him to do the same Sunday.<\/p>\n

Given it\u2019s the only first-round series still to be decided, the entire hockey world will be watching. But Vasilevskiy won\u2019t be paying attention to the hype before the puck is dropped, be it praise or criticism. As he revealed after Game 6, those thoughts are blocked out.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all part of Vasy\u2019s world.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt comes from experience,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, obviously, I mean, for sure, I\u2019m losing it during the season. I\u2019m a human too.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if I do, I do that by myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever works. Because in Vasy\u2019s World, it does more often than not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He certainly did that, no matter the motivation. \u201cHe has a history of that,\u201d Cooper said when asked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-645359","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\/645359","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=645359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}