Lightning's Andrei Vasilevskiy: Gets nod for deciding match Thursday

Vasilevskiy will command the crease Thursday night for Game 7 against the Penguins in the conference finals, NHL.com's Bryan Burns reports.

Analysis:

Vasilevskiy has a chance to wind up in the Stanley Cup Finals with the Bolts for the second straight year. Starting goalie Ben Bishop (leg) still isn't ready to return, so Vassy will need to play with the same level of composure he had in Game 1, when he replaced an injured Bishop early in the contest and slapped away 25 of 26 shots for the victory. He was spotty in the five games that followed, as the Pens scored on him 17 times. Matt Murray, the Pens' winner in Game 6, is expected to be his counterpart once again Thursday. Considering the combined age of the two tenders is just 43, there's a lack of historical data available for us to confidently predict who will come out on top in this one. However, Vasilevskiy seems to be the slight underdog given that the Penguins have run the better offense this postseason.