Andrei Vasilevskiy has settled in after Tampa Bay’s opening-night stumble, and the Lightning goaltender enters Thursday’s home date with Minnesota carrying early momentum in a bid to repeat as Vezina Trophy winner.
- Vasilevskiy, 32, is 2-1-0 through three starts with a 2.05 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage.
- Tampa Bay lost 5-1 to the New York Rangers on Oct. 1, with Vasilevskiy allowing four goals on 24 shots.
- He answered with victories over Washington, 3-1, and Philadelphia, 4-1, surrendering two goals total on 36 shots across those games.
- The win against the Flyers was career victory No. 372, tying Andy Moog for 20th place on the NHL’s all-time list.
- Vasilevskiy has averaged 35 wins over the past 10 seasons. He could reach 400 later this year and become the 16th NHL goalie to do it. Henrik Lundqvist and Sergei Bobrovsky are the only European-born, European-trained goaltenders already above that mark, with 459 and 456 wins respectively.
- He won the Vezina in 2019 and again in 2025-26. A third award would put him alongside Patrick Roy and Connor Hellebuyck, each with three, behind Martin Brodeur’s four and Dominik Hasek’s six since general managers began selecting the winner in 1981.
- Another Vezina this season would also make Vasilevskiy the fifth goalie to win the award in consecutive years under the current voting format, joining Roy, Hasek, Brodeur and Hellebuyck.
- Vasilevskiy opened camp with a reset in mind, calling the season “a new journey” and “a clean sheet.”
- Defenseman Erik Cernak said Vasilevskiy’s daily work sets the tone, adding that the goalie can erase mistakes even when the skaters in front of him do not.
What it means for the Wild game
The Lightning host the Minnesota Wild on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET. Tampa Bay will look for a third straight win and Vasilevskiy will try to continue the rebound from the Rangers loss. The game is scheduled for Wild+, MINNHL and The Spot.
Vasilevskiy is the early Vezina front-runner in the season’s first trophy voting, collecting 64 points and six first-place selections from a 16-member panel. Washington’s Logan Thompson sits second with 48 points and five first-place votes, while New York Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin has 41 points and two first-place nods.
| Goaltender | Team | Points | First-place votes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andrei Vasilevskiy | Tampa Bay Lightning | 64 | 6 |
| Logan Thompson | Washington Capitals | 48 | 5 |
| Ilya Sorokin | New York Islanders | 41 | 2 |
| Jake Oettinger | Dallas Stars | 25 | 2 |
| Jeremy Swayman | Boston Bruins | 14 | 0 |
| Igor Shesterkin | New York Rangers | 12 | 0 |
| Brandon Bussi | Carolina Hurricanes | 8 | 0 |
| Jacob Markstrom | Florida Panthers | 6 | 1 |
| Jakub Dobes | Montreal Canadiens | 5 | 0 |
| Carter Hart | Vegas Golden Knights | 5 | 0 |
| Connor Hellebuyck | Winnipeg Jets | 4 | 0 |
| Jesper Wallstedt | Minnesota Wild | 3 | 0 |
| Karel Vejmelka | Utah Mammoth | 3 | 0 |
| Dan Vladar | Philadelphia Flyers | 2 | 0 |
Voting used a 5-4-3-2-1 points format.
