Goaltending is the most important position in hockey. With that, there is no debate.
If a team doesn't have a good goaltender, the team won't be very good. But it can't always be about the goaltending.
Three games in to the Eastern Conference finals, Tampa Bay's goaltending - statistically speaking - has been much better then Pittsburgh. So don't blame the Lightning's goaltender for being in this spot three games in to the series.
Sure, Ben Bishop's absence created a stir when he went down with an apparent leg injury in the first period of Game 1. But Andrei Vasilevskiy has been outstanding since being thrust in to the spotlight, zipping along at a clip of a .930 save percentage.
Compare that to Matt Murray's .899 save percentage and it would appear Tampa Bay has a large advantage in that category.
But here's the problem, the volume of work being thrown at Vasilevskiy is much, much higher and he can't do it all for the Lightning. Since coming in to the game at the 13-minute mark in the opening game of the series he has faced 115 shots. He's done everything he can to keep his team in games and not even setting a franchise playoff record with 44 regulation saves in Game 3 was enough to help Tampa Bay.
That's because it's the body of work going on in front of him that is killing the Lightning.
In back-to-back games Tampa Bay has allowed 40-or-more shots. Pittsburgh has double digits in shots in each of the three third periods played to this point. The Penguins, quite literally, are stifling any attack the Lightning try to mount with a suffocating neutral zone formation.
Any time Tampa Bay tries to come up the ice, Pittsburgh is forcing turnovers and quickly turning the puck the other way. That has completely taken away the Lightning's speed and is feeding right in to what the Penguins do best.
A debate broke out this morning on Twitter asking why the Lightning play differently with Vasilevskiy in net as compared to Bishop. Quite frankly, I don't think the style of play is any different. The team has equal faith in both goaltenders, and that's not just lip service, something which has been apparent in this series.
The only major difference between the goaltenders comes in Bishop's ability to handle the puck and start breakouts the other way. And Bishop's rebound control is a bit better than Vasilevskiy.
But let's be honest, in the past two games with how Tampa Bay's skaters have played, it wouldn't matter who was in net. What's been the key for Pittsburgh is the ability to pinch off the Lightning in the neutral zone and prevent Tampa Bay from getting pucks in deep to establish any sort of a forecheck. Even when the Lightning have been able to gain the blue line, the Penguins are reading the dump ins, cutting off the puck before it reaches the end boards and quickly transitioning up the ice.
If Tampa Bay wants to turn around its fortunes in this series, that's where the improvement has to be made.
A goaltender can't help in that area, no matter how well he plays.