

I think that will probably be the best part for him." His body will heal, he's still a young man (28 years old) and he keeps himself in terrific shape, but the mind has got to heal. "At some point will it take a toll? I'm sure it does. "I say that no goaltender played as much as he has in so many pressure games in the biggest spotlight over the last 36 months than that kid," Cooper said. Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said he thought Vasilevskiy had another strong year and expects him to continue to perform at a high level. But we'll find out next year if it was too many games or maybe something else. "Maybe sometimes I should have settled back instead of pushing ever harder.

"I didn't change anything, but I probably should have just to pay more attention to my recovery during the season," Vasilevskiy said.

Vasilevskiy said he didn't rule out adjusting the way he handles his regular-season schedule. "I don't really like to take too much time off, but at the same time I understand it's something I need right now," Vasilevskiy said. He said he plans to go home to Russia for about a month and may wait up to seven weeks before getting back into his training schedule. Though he said he would much rather have continued competing in the playoffs, Vasilevskiy said he's looking at the Lightning's earliest playoff exit since 2018-19 as an opportunity to give himself some much needed rest. He won the Vezina Trophy, voted as the top goalie in the NHL, in 2019 and the Conn Smythe Trophy, voted as most valuable player in the playoffs, in 2021. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, Vasilevskiy has played 217 regular-season games and 77 Stanley Cup Playoff games. To be honest, I didn't feel that great after that." As I said after Game 35, my body kind of let me down. All of those small injuries came out at the same time, so I just … my mistake was that I didn't really pay attention to recovery, so I kept pushing myself to the limit. "The first 30-35 games I felt as usual," Vasilevskiy said Tuesday, "but then … I don't know, me and my body weren't on the same page, I guess. 875 save percentage in a six-game loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Eastern Conference First Round. His 26 losses (regulation and overtime combined) were the most he has had in an NHL season.

915 save percentage in 60 games this season the GAA was his highest, and his save percentage his lowest since he became a full-time starter in 2017-18. Vasilevskiy won 34 games with a 2.65 goals-against average and.
