Lightning’s Andrei Vasilevskiy Nearing Return From Back Surgery
One of the NHL’s top goaltenders appears to be just a few days away from making his 2023-24 season debut.
Tampa Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy, who had surgery to repair a lumbar disc herniation in his back in September, has “a really good chance” of suiting up on the club’s upcoming three-game road trip, head coach Jon Cooper said Wednesday.
After falling to the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 in overtime a night ago, the Lightning will head out on the road for the next week, beginning their quest in Carolina on Friday.
Initially, Vasilevskiy was expected to miss the first two months of the season after undergoing his back procedure. But with the 29-year-old recovering quicker than anticipated, his highly-anticipated debut could occur as early as the quarter-season mark against the Hurricanes.
Losing the two-time All-Star to LTIR to open this season was a significant blow for Tampa Bay, though the club has kept its head above water since then as they sit third in the Atlantic Division with 23 points across 20 games entering Thursday’s slate.
That’s mainly because of the Lightning’s offence, which ranks eighth in the league in goals per game (3.5), allowing this roster to outscore its defensive woes that have them tied for the sixth-most goals against per game (3.6). Above all else, it’s helped minimize the loss of Vasilevskiy.
Without the 2018-19 Vezina Trophy winner, Tampa Bay has relied on an inexperienced tandem of Jonas Johansson and Matt Tomkins, although neither has performed overly well between the pipes. That pair sits 48th and 54th, respectively, in save percentage out of 75 NHL goalies this season.
The advanced metrics don’t provide much solace, either, as Tomkins (-1.7) is tied for 52nd in goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck, while Johansson (-4.4) is positioned 66th in the league.
Despite those poor results, however, Cooper is adamant his team needs to improve its play regardless of whoever’s starting in net.
“Goaltending has not been an issue for us,” Cooper told reporters on Wednesday, including the Tampa Bay Times’ Eduardo A. Encina. “They give us a chance to win games. Our game has been inconsistent. Not inconsistent that it’s 30 minutes on, 30 minutes off. It’s been 53 minutes on, seven minutes off. We’ve got more wins than losses, and if we weren’t getting great goaltending we probably wouldn’t have done that.”
Vasilevskiy’s eventual return should provide a massive spark for a Lightning club that has surrendered at least four goals in five of its previous seven contests. While he might be a tad rusty early on, and rightly so, he remains one of the sport’s most dominating players at his position.
Though he’s yet to play a game this season, no other netminder owns a better goals-against average (2.50) or save percentage (.919) than Vasilevskiy since his breakout 2017-18 campaign. Only Marc-Andre Fleury has compiled more shutouts (29) during that span.
The Russian-born goaltender shines brightest in the playoffs, leading to his 2.37 GAA, .921 SV%, seven shutouts, and two Stanley Cup rings across 110 career games.
Last season, Vasilevskiy helped carry Tampa Bay to a sixth straight postseason appearance, posting a 2.65 GAA and .915 SV% with four shutouts over 60 games.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85
Photo: Michael Miller. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.