Lightning Beat Maple Leafs in Andrei Vasilevskiy’s Return

The two top teams in the Eastern Conference of the NHL faced off against each other for the first time this season on December 13th as the Tampa Bay Lightning (24-7-1, 49 points) hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs (21-9-1, 43 points). The game also featured the return of Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who was seeing action for the first time since November 10th, when he broke his left foot.

Vasilevskiy hadn’t lost, ahem, a step since the injury. The 24 year old netminder stopped 48 shots as the Lightning beat the Leafs 4-1. The 48 saves were a career high. Kaspiri Kapanen scored to give the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead at the 5:26 mark of the first period, but it was all Tampa Bay after that. Anthony Cirelli scored a shorthanded goal later in the first period, and Nikita Kucherov, Alex Killhorn, and Tyler Johnson each scored a goal in the second period for Tampa Bay.

Vasilevskiy improved to 10-3-1 in 14 games this season, with a save percentage of .933 and a goals against average of 2.20. His save percentage leads the NHL. But the fact that the Lightning remained in first place with the best record in the league for the 14 games Vasilevskiy missed is the latest example of why a good backup goalie is vital. Louis Domingue was 11-2-0 while Vasilevskiy was out; he’s 14-4 with a 2.95 GAA and .905 save percentage for the season. (Today’s Trivia: Edward Pasquale was 1-0 in his only start during Vasilevskiy’s absence when the Lightning beat Detroit 6-5 in a shootout on December 4th.)

Next up for Tampa Bay is a four game road trip to western Canada, with games in Winnipeg, Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton. Toronto plays at the Florida Panthers and New Jersey Devils. The Leafs and Lightning will face each other again in Tampa on January 17th; the Leafs will host the Lightning on March 11th and April 4th.