Bolts get valiant effort from rookie goalie

This wasn't Long Island in the middle of a long NHL regular season.

Rather, try the Stanley Cup Final, summertime in Chicago.

What, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper worry about starting a pup between the pipes against the mighty Blackhawks in their own building?

Not even for a New York minute.

Like the Blackhawks, the Lightning have trust in their player who wears jersey No. 88.

"Even in the playoffs, we've put him in (the game) in tough situations," Cooper said this week of goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. "He's played under some bright lights. He's World Junior, KHL. These guys are with him more than I am. I'll tell you, I don't know if we have a more prepared player in our locker room than that kid. He's ready to go in at any moment. You got to love that in him."

With an apparently injured Ben Bishop unable to go Wednesday night for Game 4 at the United Center, two nights after a gutsy 36-save effort, the 20-year-old Vasilevskiy got his first start in the series. He had relieved Bishop in Game 2 and earned the win, despite needing to make just 5 saves.

"I was very excited (to start Game 4)," said the soft-spoken Vasilevskiy, who didn't learn until game day that he would be starting. "It's always been my dream to play in the Stanley Cup Finals. The team played really well."

That the young Russian goalie performed well in his Game 2 relief stint didn't surprise his coach. Cooper recalled a road game the Lightning played against the New York Islanders, five days before Christmas.

"We were on the Island, the fifth game in 10 nights," Cooper said. "It was a tough trip for us. I think 'Vasi' kicked out 40-plus (45 saves, to be exact). We didn't have the puck the whole night."

The Lightning fell 2-1. But what an early Christmas gift - the realization that they might have a 6-foot-3 goalie with star potential.

"We should have lost 10-1," Cooper said. "The building was rocking. It was just a crazy atmosphere. He was unreal. He just played with this unreal calm about himself. That's when I knew we had something in this kid."

Cooper's confidence in Vasilevskiy had hardly dipped following the Blackhawks' 2-1, series-tying win Wednesday night. Vasilevskiy stopped 17 shots, but got victimized on the game-winner when Brandon Saad's backhander sneaked between the pads with 13:38 left in the third.

"That kid gave us a chance to win the hockey game," Cooper said. "I thought he was great. ... He showed in the pinnacle of the sport that he can play. That's a pretty big achievement for a 20-year-old."

The Blackhawks barely tested the rookie goaltender early, managing just 2 shots on goal in the opening period. Vasilevskiy's first save didn't come until nearly the midway point of the period on a Patrick Sharp slap shot.

"The second and third periods were more fun than the first," Vasilevskiy said with a smile.

While Vasilevskiy wasn't tested often, he came up big with five minutes left, stopping a one-timer from his No. 88 counterpart, Patrick Kane, who could have given the Blackhawks an insurance goal. Earlier in the third, Vasilevskiy stopped Sharp on a breakaway.

"He played extremely well," defenseman Jason Garrison said of his goalie. "It didn't look like he was nervous at all. He was our best player out there tonight."

Whether Vasilevskiy starts Game 5 on Saturday night in Tampa Bay likely depends on Bishop's availability.

"'Bish' is going to play again in this series," Cooper said. "There's no question. I just don't know which game."