Vasilevskiy's former teammate believes Vasi is no longer the best in the world
He's won 10 straight series, has yet to lose back to back games in any of them and has closed out 6 of the last 7 elimination games with shutouts, but his former teammate, Barclay Goodrow, says Andrei Vasilevskiy is not the best in the world anymore. Fair game, considering Vasilevskiy was not named a finalist for the Vezina trophy this year.
Goodrow was asked who he would pick as his goalie if he had to pick between Vasilevskiy and Igor Shesterkin and without hesitation he said, "I'll take Shesty all day." It's obviously an obligatory, "support your teammate" quote from Goodrow, but Shesterkin certainly has the numbers to back up Goodrow's claims. He posted a 36-13-4 record with a .935 sv% and 2.07 GAA this season, both of which led the league. He also posted 6 shutouts and after being pulled in back to back games in round 1 against the Penguins, he has carried the Rangers into the Conference Finals.
Vasilevskiy, on the other hand, posted his second highest goals against average at 2.49 over the last four seasons and his lowest save percentage (.916) since his second NHL season. Whether he's tired from the amount of hockey he has played the last few years or teams have finally figured him out, he looked like a shell of of himself at times - particularly against the Leafs in round 1 where he posted a subpar .895 save percentage average over 7 games.
Should the Rangers get past Tampa in the Conference Finals, it will be due to Shesterkin outplaying Vasilevskiy in what could be a "passing of the torch" type series for these two. Game 1 goes Wednesday night in Tampa, so we won't have to wait long to see if this will be a goaltending duel or offensive showing.
| POLL | ||
MAI 31 | 82 ANSWERS Vasilevskiy's former teammate believes Vasi is no longer the best in the world Who is the best goalie in the NHL right now? | ||
| Vasilevskiy | 56 | 68.3 % |
| Shesterkin | 15 | 18.3 % |
| Hellebuyck | 3 | 3.7 % |
| Other | 8 | 9.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
