Andrei Vasilevskiy became the 40th goalkeeper on Thursday evening to reach the plateau of 300 victories, but above all he broke a speed record which until then belonged to the illustrious Jacques Plante.
It was in the shadow of Connor McDavid’s 1,000th point that the Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender defeated the best team in the National League, the Winnipeg Jets, on Thursday night to accomplish this feat.
• See also: Filip Chytil gets injured because of a teammate
• Also read: Who are the players who helped McDavid the most?
For a goalie, 300 victories are a bit the equivalent of 1000 points for a skater. Vasilevskiy only needed 490 games to achieve this, 31 fewer than Plante. It was in 1963, in his last season with the Montreal Canadiens, that the Quebecer established this mark which stood for more than 60 years.
Sergei Bobrovsky (541), Andy Moog (543), Marc-André Fleury (547) and Martin Brodeur (548) completed the top 5.
“I’m lucky to have been able to win 300 with the same team,” the Russian goalkeeper said at a press briefing. That doesn’t happen often these days. Obviously it’s hard to win in this league, but over the last 10 years I’ve played for such a good team. They work so hard on the ice and they help me during the game.”
It is thanks to his extraordinary consistency that Vasilevskiy rose among the greats. He has recorded at least 30 victories in all his seasons since 2017-2018 and has maintained a goals against average of 2.56 and an efficiency percentage of .917.
“How do you become the best? It’s when you’re sent on the big occasions and you deliver the goods over and over again, explained Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. […] He went for 300 victories in one time [record]winning the Vezina Trophy, two Stanley Cups and participating in four finals. I don’t know what more you can say about him.”
“It’s a pleasure to be his coach. He is a generational talent and he is still at the top of his form,” added the driver.
Another goalie could also get 300 wins faster than Plante. This is Frederik Andersen, who has 298 in his career after 499 games. Currently on the injured list with Carolina, he will soon have his chance to flirt with history.
