TAMPA — Andrei Vasilevskiy was a full participant at practice Wednesday and could start for the Tampa Bay Lightning against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Amalie Arena on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; TVAS, SUN, SNO).
The 24-year-old goalie has missed 14 games after breaking his left foot in practice Nov. 14. Coach Jon Cooper said he was pleased with how Vasilevskiy looked during the hour-long session but was not ready to say if he would start Thursday.
“I guess there’s a potential for anything,” Cooper said. “But again, it’s up to him and how he feels, and we’ll talk about that today.
“What we tried to do today was a wide array of special teams and 5-on-5. We wanted to make sure that he got a sweat today and see how he went through it. And as I said it looks like he managed it pretty well.”
Vasilevskiy did not speak with the media after practice and routinely doesn’t talk on game days. He was given a 4-to-6-week timeline to recover and Wednesday was four weeks since he was injured during practice Nov. 14. He returned to the ice in a limited capacity Dec. 6 and has practiced or skated with the Lightning every day since.
“The type of injury he had is not a lingering type thing,” Cooper said. “It had to heal and once it heals, it’s good.”
The Lightning are 12-2-0 since Vasilevskiy’s injury. They are on a seven-game winning streak and have the best record in the NHL (24-7-1). Vasilevskiy is 9-3-1 with a 2.29 goals-against average and .927 save percentage.
Backup goalie Louis Domingue is 11-2-0 since replacing Vasilevskiy and his 14 total wins is third in the NHL. Tampa Bay has also been getting it done on the offensive side, scoring four or more goals in 12 of its past 14 games.
Goalie Edward Pasquale was reassigned to Syracuse of the American Hockey League on Tuesday, another indication Vasilevskiy could be ready to return.
“It’s a team sport and the reason you’ve got guys in line waiting to play is in case injuries happen,” Cooper said. “You don’t want anybody get to hurt, ever, but you can lose your starting goaltender for a month or so. That’s 15 or 16 games. Somebody’s got to fill that void and step in and Louis has done an unreal job.”
from A Viral Update https://ift.tt/2rzPS5m
0 Comments