Report: Cooper wanted to pull Vasilevskiy from last night's blowout loss, but the veteran goalie refused to leave the net
In need of a bounce back effort, the Toronto Maple Leafs jumped on the Tampa Bay Lightning early with a power play goal only 47 seconds into game. Ian Cole was called for a tripping minor and it only took the Leafs 7 seconds to connect courtesy of a Mitch Marner slap-shot. The Leafs added 2 more goals before the end of the first and carried all the momentum.
Andrei Vasilevskiy didn't look sharp and it only got worse as the Leafs added 3 more in the back-half of the second period, taking a 6-1 lead into the second intermission. Ian Cole cut the deficit to 2 midway through the middle period and it seemed like the Lightning were close to seizing momentum but captain John Tavares scored a very important goal to keep Tampa at bay.
In most cases, Vasilevskiy would have been pulled but the Russian net-minder remained in the game to finish the period and even came back out for the third period. He allowed 7 goals on 37 shots and after the game head coach, Jon Cooper, mentioned that his goaltender refused to be pulled:
"That's why he's the best in the world. He's not coming out."
During the broadcast it was shown that Vasilevskiy had played in every minute of every post-season game since 2018, which spanned 82 games. He is 2 games away from tying Martin Brodeur's record of 84 games - between 1995-2003.
The veteran goaltender has played in 106 post-season games, 101 starts, and sports a 64-39 record. He entered the game with a .923 SV% and a 2.31 GAA with 7 shutouts. He won 18, 16, and 14 games respectively over the last 3 years and has been a stalwart for their past post-season runs, including a Conn Smythe Trophy.
He looked shaky last year against the Maple Leafs as well, which is part of the reason why it went to 7 games. He was 4-3-0 with a .897 SV%, but was a ridiculous 8-2-0 with a .948 SV% the following 2 series' to get into the Finals.
Game 3 is scheduled for Saturday in Tampa Bay and we're sure to be in for some fireworks after how the game ended on Thursday with all the rough stuff, dropped gloves, and chirping. Vasilevskiy is going to need to bring his A-game to make sure the Lightning don't let home-ice slip from their fingers after stealing it in Game 1 from the Leafs.
