2021 Stanley Cup Final: 4 Takeaways from Game 2, including Coleman’s magic

2. Vasilevskiy’s Signature Game

Elite goaltending wins championships and that’s part of the reason why the Tampa Bay Lightning won the 2020 Stanley Cup, and it will be a big piece of the puzzle if they repeat as champions this season.

Every great team needs an absolute stud between the pipes, and the Bolts have that in Andrei Vasilevskiy who was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy this year following yet another stellar regular season.

He’s establishing himself as a Conn Smythe contender too with another impressive postseason resume, and his signature game (so far, anyway) came in Game 2 as he won the contest for the Lightning on his own.

On a night where the Bolts were not at their best and were guilty of playing sloppy hockey, Vasilevskiy stood on his head and stopped almost everything that came with his way, with a weak backhand shot from Nick Suzuki on the power play in the second period the only blot on his copybook.

That aside, however, the 26-year-old was an absolute machine, stopping 42 of the 43 shots he faced, including a great poke check to halt a Nick Suzuki breakaway in the first period, a superb save through traffic to deny the same player in the second, and an incredible stick save to stop a deflected Ben Chiarot shot.

Vasilevskiy faced a lot more traffic in Game 2 than he did in Game 1, but he was up to the test and this was a game he won on his own, which every great goalie needs to do during the course of a series. If the Lightning can finish the job, then Vasilevskiy’s stellar Game 2 performance will go down as a huge moment in this series.