Nobody Is In More Danger Right Now Than Andrei Vasilevskiy
Mark LoMoglio. Getty Images.Andrei Vasilevskiy has led the Tampa Bay Lightning to back-to-back Stanley Cups. He's a Conn Smythe winner. He's a Vezina winner. But the biggest test of his career still lies ahead of him.
Staying healthy in a playoff series against the New York Rangers.
I mean holy shit. The Rangers have caught the biggest streak of injury luck in the history of the game. They show up to play against Pittsburgh in the first round of these playoffs and Casey DeSmith gets hurt right away in game 1. The only reason why Casey DeSmith was in net in the first place for Pittsburgh was because Tristan Jarry broke his foot in April. So the Penguins were down to Louis Domingue for the majority of that series and they still pushed New York to game 7 (they also had to play without Sidney Crosby in game 6). Then Jarry came back and played hurt in game 7, where the Rangers moved on.
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Then they draw Carolina in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Hurricanes were rolling with Antti Raanta in net for the playoffs because their regular starter Frederik Andersen got hurt towards the end of the regular season. Once again, the Rangers get a backup in cage. And then in game 7 last night?
Raanta goes down with an injury and New York gets to pepper some 22-year-old rookie Russian goalie the Canes threw in net to finish out that game.
Backup. Backup. Hurt starter for 1 game. Backup. Backup. Greatest goalie on the planet over the course of the last 3 years.
I'd say the Rangers are toast once they have to go up against an actual goalie. If Louis Domingue can still push your team to 7 games, Vasilevskiy should have this shit wrapped up by early next week. But clearly the Rangers have made some sort of voodoo magic deal with the devil. Clearly there is some fuckery afoot here. So we need steady and constant security detail on Vasilevskiy. Because I swear to god if I have to watch this Rangers team advance to the Stanley Cup Final after peppering Brian Elliott in game 7, I am going to lose my shit.
P.S. -- No more hypotheticals. Unless, of course, those dirtbag Rangers run Vasilevskiy.