Andrei Vasilevskiy reportedly refused to be pulled in Game 2 by Jon Cooper

It was a night to forget for the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 2 of their first round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. In fact, it was nearly a complete reversal of Game 1, but with the Maple Leafs taking this one by a score of 7-2.

After the second period, Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper reportedly tried to pull his star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy and put in Brian Elliott, but the 28-year-old refused and returned between the pipes for the final 20 minutes.

At that point, the Maple Leafs were up 6-1 on the Lightning and pulling Vasilevskiy would have been a smart move to rest him for a big Game 3 in Tampa Bay on Saturday night, similar to what Sheldon Keefe did with Ilya Samsonov in Game 1 earlier this week.

It's not often a team manages to get seven goals past Andrei Vasilevskiy, who has arguably been one of the best goaltenders in the National Hockey League for at least the past five years now.


Both teams will now shift their focus to Tampa Bay for Games 3 and 4, coming on Saturday and Monday respectively. There's a pretty good chance that for the second straight year, these two teams will go the distance and Game 7 might be needed.

Puck drop for Game 3 in Tampa Bay tomorrow night is set for 7 p.m. ET.