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When Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy still says he\u2019d play every game if he was allowed, it\u2019s difficult to tell exactly how much he\u2019s joking.<\/p>\n
Vasilevskiy is the workhorse of his era in terms of goaltenders. Take away two seasons ago, when he missed the first 20 games due to back surgery, and he has averaged 62 starts dating to 2021-22. And no one will forget the three-year stretch in which he played 71 postseason games, winning 48 of them in helping the Lightning to three straight Stanley Cup finals.<\/p>\n
But Vasilevskiy is now 31, and he\u2019s gradually adapted his training routine, learning the value of rest. He\u2019ll be the first to tell you that a goaltender\u2019s work is no walk in the park, and the older you get, physical ailments continue to creep up.<\/p>\n
But he jokes that it would be fun to play all 82.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not 20 years old anymore, so I need a little bit more here and there, just to, you know, to fill up my tank a little bit,\u201d Vasilevskiy said following Sunday\u2019s practice at Benchmark International Arena. \u201cBut still, I will play 82 games. I mean, I want to, to be honest. I want one season when I play 82 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe before my last season in the league I\u2019ll ask to play 82 games.\u201d<\/p>\n
A month into the season, Vasilevskiy is playing his best hockey. After going winless in his first five starts (0-3-2), he enters Wednesday\u2019s home game against the Rangers 5-1-0 in his last six, posting a 2.00 goals-against average and .923 save percentage.<\/p>\n
Vasilevskiy\u2019s best game of the stretch might have been\u00a0Saturday\u2019s 3-2 win over Washington\u00a0when he held off the Capitals in the third period, including two big back-to-back saves on Alex Ovechkin and Jakob Chychrun in the final two minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Vasy has gone the way our team\u2019s gone,\u201d Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. \u201cAnd when we struggled early, I can\u2019t sit here and say Vasy struggled. We left him out there. But I thought as our team\u2019s game improved, you know, Vas, he\u2019s been good for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the saves in big moments when you need them, and that\u2019s what Vas has done for us. So you can see his numbers are starting to creep into the area they should be and usually are, and that\u2019s a good sign.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vasilevskiy rarely practiced during training camp as he dealt with an undisclosed physical issue. He\u2019s going to have to manage some ailments as he gets older and figuring out how is a part of his growing process. But he feels like whatever he was going through in the preseason is behind him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like every professional athlete is dealing with some sort of injury and all these minor scratches,\u201d Vasilevskiy said. \u201cSo obviously, in my case too, it probably will never get away at this point while I\u2019m still playing hockey. So at this point, I just can manage it. But at least it doesn\u2019t bother me too much during the game now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even when Vasilevskiy was struggling early in the season, he knew he was playing well enough to get a win and \u201cstayed calm\u201d even as the losses piled up. But the Lightning\u2019s recent surge certainly helps.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt boosts my confidence, our confidence overall,\u201d he said. \u201c… But I don\u2019t think we are playing our greatest hockey so far.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lightning have worked to get more days off for Vasilevskiy, and Cooper has said that this season\u2019s compacted schedule due to the Olympic break will make backup goaltenders more important.<\/p>\n
And they have leaned on backup Jonas Johansson, and not just because the schedule included three early back-to-backs. Last week, the Lightning started Johansson for a Monday afternoon road game in Utah to give Vasilevskiy extra time off after playing the previous Saturday night and with the team starting a three-game road trip.<\/p>\n
For Vasilevskiy, finding that balance between getting his work in and the right times to rest is a constant work in progress.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m not playing, just like, it\u2019s just too boring to me,\u201d he said. \u201cLike, I don\u2019t know what to do. And I feel there\u2019s days when, yeah, it\u2019s good to practice. But for example, after the game, I\u2019m usually so exhausted, and I sleep only for a few hours. I struggle to sleep after the game, so that obviously doesn\u2019t help, so sometimes my body feels (bad).\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like my body is tired, but my brain is just still spinning,\u201d he said about winding down after games. \u201cThe adrenaline\u2019s pumping, so I can\u2019t let it calm down like I know it should. …<\/p>\n
\u201cI still feel that the goalie is kind of doing a high-intensity job. It\u2019s all 60 or even more minutes on the ice doing all these … stupid splits and stuff. So obviously, it doesn\u2019t really help the body to feel better after the game. But again, I\u2019ve kind of gotten used to it over the last 11 years doing it. So at this point, I can\u2019t complain.\u201d<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0are off to a 2-7 start, and fans have called for head coach Kevin Stefanski to be fired.<\/p>\n
However, it is unlikely that Stefanski\u00a0will be fired this season. Meanwhile, Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot revealed that he is likely to return in 2026. General manager Andrew Berry is also expected back, according to Cabot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe truth is, we have no idea what they are actually really thinking,\u201d Cabot\u00a0said on 92.3 The Fan. \u201cI know going into it, Jimmy Haslam has indicated, I believe at the owner\u2019s meetings, that he wasn\u2019t holding Kevin and Andrew\u2019s feet to the fire because this was the year they were trying to figure out what they had in one of these rookie quarterbacks. Or, at least at that point, they knew it was going to be one rookie quarterback.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think there was this sense of \u2018win or else\u2019 this season. It was about fact-finding and figuring out what they had and helping them inform what to do in the 2026 draft. I just don\u2019t think this was a year where the expectations were super, crazy high. But, still, you have to see certain things from your football team. \u2026 I do think that Jimmy believes in continuity and alignment in his organization. And, he knows that this is a challenging year with all of the rookies. In a perfect world, he\u2019s going to want to try to maintain that continuity. And, see if they can\u2019t get this thing on the right track with a new quarterback they will probably draft in 2026.<\/p>\n
Cabot believes Haslam still has confidence in Berry and Stefanski, and both could very well return next season with a new quarterback.<\/p>\n
Cleveland has struggled this season as the Browns are off to a 2-7 start and coming off a disappointing 27-20 road loss to the\u00a0New York Jets.<\/p>\n
Following the loss, Stefanski made it clear that the goal and focus are on turning it around and finding ways to win.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously frustrated, disappointed on that result yesterday,\u201d Stefanski\u00a0said\u00a0on Monday. \u201cAnd we\u2019re spending time right now watching it with the players and trying to learn from that. You know, hard to win on the road, and certainly hard when you do some of the things we did in that ball game. But we\u2019re committed to this thing, and we\u2019ll just find ways to get better in all areas and we\u2019ll go from there. Big division game at our place this week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stefanski believes the Browns have to be better in all three phases of the game. Despite that being an issue all season, he has full confidence in his group.<\/p>\n
The Browns will host the\u00a0Baltimore Ravens\u00a0on Sunday in a game Cleveland\u00a0is a 7.5-point underdog.<\/p>\n
Although Stefanski hasn\u2019t been fired, and there are no signs he will be, his name has come up for other jobs.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0New York Giants\u00a0fired Brian Daboll on Monday after a loss to the\u00a0Chicago Bears. Following Daboll\u2019s firing, NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky\u00a0links\u00a0Stefanski to the Giants.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe No. 1 name that I would pay attention to if I were the\u00a0Giants\u00a0is what happens in Cleveland with Kevin Stefanski,\u201d Orlovsky\u00a0said\u00a0on Monday on NFL Live. \u201cIf I could hand-pick a guy, it would be Stefanski. He\u2019s an outstanding coach, two-time Coach of the Year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand people in Cleveland are like, \u2018This guy can\u2019t coach\u2019. But there\u2019s a lot of empirical data that would say otherwise. \u2026 I would pay attention to see what\u2019s going on in Cleveland.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stefanski has been the Browns\u2019 head coach since 2020 and has led them to the playoffs twice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy still says he\u2019d play every game if he was allowed, it\u2019s difficult to tell exactly how much he\u2019s joking. Vasilevskiy is the workhorse of his era in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t