TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Lightning are working out of superlatives to explain Andrei Vasilevskiy’s dominance.
The reigning Conn Symthe Trophy winner delivered one other stellar playoff efficiency for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions on Monday night time, stopping 49 pictures to beat the Florida Panthers 2-0 and end a four-game sweep that sends them to the Jap Convention ultimate for the sixth time in eight years.
Pat Maroon snapped a scoreless tie, batting Zach Bogosian’s shot down behind Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky earlier than the puck trickled into the online a bit of over six minutes into the third interval. Ondrej Palat added an empty-net purpose with 22 seconds left.
Vasilevskiy received his sixth straight sport, a streak that started with the Lightning dealing with a 3-2 collection deficit within the opening spherical. It was his sixth shutout in his final seven series-clinching wins.
The 27-year-old goaltender nicknamed “Large Cat” posted his 57th profession postseason victory, shifting right into a tie with Tuukka Rask for seventeenth on the all-time checklist. He’s allowed one or fewer targets in 28 of 87 playoff begins.
When Vasilevskiy started this postseason by yielding three or extra targets in Tampa Bay’s first six video games towards the Maple Leafs, coach Jon Cooper mentioned the Lightning’s confidence in him by no means wavered.
“I’m not so positive there’s far more I can say about him. It’s humorous how the playoffs are 5 video games into the Toronto collection and also you’re asking all these questions on what’s unsuitable with Vasilevsky,” Cooper mentioned.
“It’s by no means a doubt in our locker room. A goalie’s job, if you wish to be elite, is to offer your workforce an opportunity to win,” the coach added. “When a goaltender provides your workforce an opportunity to win, it is available in a wide range of methods. Tonight, it was he wasn’t letting something in. And we’ve seen that point and time once more.”
The high-scoring Panthers, who averaged a NHL-best 4.11 targets per sport whereas compiling the league’s finest file through the common season, had been shut out for the primary time all season. The Presidents’ Trophy winners completed with three targets in 4 video games and wound up being outscored 13-3 within the collection.
“They’re actually good. I imply, they’re Stanley Cup champions for a motive, and their evolution of how they had been as soon as a high-flying sort of offensive workforce they usually discovered their recipe the best way to win they usually keep it up,” Florida interim coach Andrew Brunette mentioned.
“Clearly, we aspire to be them, and this was one other studying expertise for us,” Brunette added. “We should be higher.”
The Panthers had been eradicated from the playoffs for the second yr by their in-state rivals. The Lightning ousted them within the first spherical in 2021.
“It’s a troublesome capsule to swallow. Getting swept is hard,” Florida’s Aaron Ekblad mentioned. “It hurts. It stings. There’s little doubt about it.”
The Lightning joined the New York Islanders and Montreal Canadiens as the one franchises to win at the very least 10 consecutive playoff collection. Their bid to turn into the primary workforce in 40 years to seize three straight Stanley Cup titles will proceed within the East ultimate towards both the Carolina Hurricanes or New York Rangers.
The defending champs persevered Monday night time regardless of having targets by Alex Killorn and Nikita Kucherov waved off inside a 48-second span of the second interval — the primary after Florida coach Andrew Brunette challenged and a prolonged replay overview decided Palat lifted the puck out of play alongside the boards earlier than Mikhail Sergachev fired a shot that Killorn tipped previous Bobrovsky.
Lower than a minute later, Tampa Bay appeared to take the lead once more solely to have replay affirm Anthony Cirelli received a faceoff within the left circle with a hand cross that Kucherov rifled by Bobrovsky.
“Whenever you hit a bit of adversity like that, you’ve simply received to keep it up,” Maroon mentioned.
The Panthers grew to become the primary Presidents’ Trophy winners to be swept by a defending Stanley Cup champion within the playoffs since Edmonton breezed previous Calgary on its solution to one other title in 1988.
Vasilevskiy, who entered Monday night time having given up one purpose in every of his earlier 4 video games, has allowed one purpose complete in his final seven series-clinching wins.
“It’s fairly cool to play with a participant that I feel will go down as top-of-the-line goalies that’s ever performed the sport,” Killorn mentioned. “That’s the way you sort of gauge gamers is how they carry out in big-time video games, and he’s been nothing however great in his sport.”
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