Andrei Vasilevskiy Posts .878 Save Percentage Since 2023
Andrei Vasilevskiy’s playoff numbers have fallen sharply since the start of the 2023 postseason, and the Tampa Bay Lightning netminder now owns an.878 save percentage over that span. He has gone 4-13 in those games with minus-four goals saved above expected, a run that has put a new kind of pressure on Tampa Bay in the spring.
Montreal Keeps Pressuring Vasilevskiy
Heading into Game 2 against the Montreal Canadiens earlier this week, that pressure was visible again. Montreal made a concerted effort to create chaos around him, and Josh Anderson had a disallowed goal in Game 1.
The shot profile has been part of the problem. Teams have targeted traffic in front, screened shots, tipped shots and point shots against him in the playoffs, and that is the same mix that once gave Tampa Bay a cleaner path when Vasilevskiy was at his best.
Shot Types Tell The Story
In 2020, when the Lightning won the Cup, he posted a.946 save percentage on screened shots during the postseason. Two years later, his save percentage off deflected shots was.943, but that number slid to.750 in 2023 and then to.667 in 2025.
That drop tracks with what Derek Lalonde said on a playoff broadcast in 2023, when he said Vasilevskiy sometimes struggled picking up shots from the point. In the 2023 playoffs, his save percentage on screened shots fell to.773 in an opening-round loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and last year it was.842 against the Florida Panthers.
Tampa Bay Needs His Ceiling
Vasilevskiy still posted strong regular-season numbers over the past couple of seasons, but the postseason decline has left Tampa Bay without a playoff series win during this span. With the core getting older, cap constraints in place and injuries mounting, the Lightning do not have much margin if their goaltender stays at these playoff levels.
He is six-foot-four and still has the baseline tools to handle the spring workload. The issue now is whether Tampa Bay can get the version that once crushed screened looks and deflections, because the Canadiens have already shown they will keep sending that traffic back at him.
