(Tampa) At 27, Andrei Vasilevskiy is already virtually assured of a spot in the Hall of Fame. But he can continue to build his legend during this final.
Posted at 12:55 p.m.
The Lightning and the Avalanche return this Sunday at Amalie Arena, for Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final. And the Avalanche will have to achieve something that has not been accomplished since April 16, 2019: beat Vasilevskiy in a game where the Lightning risk elimination.
Quite frankly, the Lightning haven’t found themselves on the edge of the precipice often since the Columbus Blue Jackets swept it away. It’s happened four times, in fact, and the Russian goaltender is 4-0, but more importantly, a 1.33 GAA and .956 save percentage in those circumstances.
Vasilevskiy remains relatively mysterious. Although he speaks decent English, he grants very few interviews. He has not spoken to reporters since June 14 media day.
But even internally, there seems to be some mystery. Earlier this week, Jon Cooper mentioned that members of the Lightning tried not to interfere with Vasilevskiy’s “routine” on game days. What about this routine?
“I wasn’t with him, but I’m sure his routine started last night,” Cooper replied. But this whole league is all about routine. I’m sure even you [les journalistes], you have your routine. You do the same things, you go to the same cafe. Goalkeepers are like that, they have their habits. And if you write a bad article, you change coffee! But that’s how we work here. He has his routine and we let him do it. »
“In general, we try not to disturb the goalkeepers on match days,” confirmed Zach Bogosian. He’s just really intense, even on days when we’re not playing. He does everything to improve himself and make sure he’s at the top of his game, and that involves a lot of habits that he must have kept for years and it works for him! It’s really good when one of your impact players is so focused on his job. »
Vaslevskiy hasn’t been perfect in recent games, however, notably on the Avalanche’s first goal on Friday, when he allowed a return on a high shot he should have caught.
But the contrast is nevertheless striking with his rival, Darcy Kuemper. Again Saturday, Jared Bednar had to answer questions about his level of confidence in his goalkeeper, who seems to allow at least one “bad” goal per game since his shutout in the second game.
PHOTOJACK DEMPSEY, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Darcy Kuemper is foiled by Ondrej Palat’s shot in Friday’s game.
Kuemper is shooting .898 this spring. Since the 2005 lockout, the worst save percentage of a number 1 goaltender who won the Stanley Cup is Marc-André Fleury’s .908 in 2009 with the Penguins.
Still no Point, a doubt for Nichushkin?
Moreover, the Lightning will not get the reinforcements expected for this sixth game. Jon Cooper said he expects to field the same roster as last game, which means Brayden Point will be out again. The striker will miss a fourth game in a row.
It also looks like the Avalanche won’t be getting any fresh forces. Andre Burakovsky jumped on the ice briefly for the morning exercise, before returning to the locker room. He too hasn’t played since Game 2.
There remains a certain intrigue surrounding Valeri Nichushkin. TSN colleague Chris Johnston reported that the forward limped into the arena on Sunday. “We hope he’s training,” said Jared Bednar simply.
Nichushkin has been one of the Avalanche’s best forwards since the start of the Finals, if not the best. In five games, he has four goals and two assists and has shot 21 times.
Like in game 4
We were talking about routine earlier… The two Avalanche players who spoke to the media on Sunday morning were Mikko Rantanen and Andrew Cogliano. However, it was also them who had been designated the game of game 4, here in Tampa, game that the Avalanche finally won.
Even better, colleague Peter Baugh, of The Athletic, noted that Cogliano, upon arriving in the room, even reversed the cards with the names of the two players, so that they were in the same position as last Wednesday…