The Tampa Bay Lightning came into the 2022 Stanley Cup Final the victors of 11 consecutive playoff series and back-to-back champions. After falling in six games and seeing their Stanley Cup handed to
Gabriel Landeskog and the Colorado Avalanche, the Lightning are rolling into 2022-23 with a whole new mindset.
Goaltender
Andrei Vasilevskiy recently offered a Q&A in which he called the loss to Colorado 'a cold shower' and that the team has a whole new set of goals this season.
Q - So that drive to win the Cup again remains?
A - "For sure. When you win a few Cups in a row, deep inside you kind of comfort yourself. Basically, you've done everything you wanted in this league, but last season's Final, it was some kind of a cold shower for our team. Now there's a new team that set the bar and we have to raise that bar and set it again. So, as I said, motivation will be high this season."
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Vasilevskiy said he was content with his performance, insisting he played well enough to win. Through the playoffs, the Russian sported a 14-9 recored with a 2.52 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage plus one shutout.
Tampa's prized goaltender suggested the team's inability to convert in overtime situations played a key factor in their defeat.
"Our overtimes, it was tough. I think the previous playoffs, we went 0-4 (in overtime) and, overall, I think we scored only one goal in the last eight overtime games (beginning with Game 5 of the 2020 Stanley Cup Final against the Dallas Stars), which is not great. So [the Avalanche] won two games in overtime. It could've been us, but, unfortunately, we didn't get the job done and here you go. We have to be better at that too."
In light of their defeat, Vasilevskiy and his teammates saw an exodus of core characters this summer. Defenseman
Ryan McDonagh was traded to the Nashville Predators, forward
Ondrej Palat signed with the New Jersey Devils, and
Jan Rutta with the Pittsburgh Penguins. McDonagh and Palat were instrumental in both of the club's championships.
Vasilevskiy reiterated the club's 'next-man-up' mentality but also said his close friend
Mikhail Sergachev is fit to assume McDonagh's leadership role on Tampa' blue line.
The Tampa Bay Lightning recently saw their
training camp uprooted due to the incoming Hurricane Ian and is set to resume in Nashville, where the two sides will square off in preseason action on Thursday and Friday this week.
With a stormy start to their 2022-23 season, is this an omen to expect a backwards step? Or could it be a 'Winter is coming' type of thing? Perhaps, the hurricane is just a matter of fact and not everything is symbolic of a greater omen.
I digress.
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