Before Andrei Vasilevskiy imposed his rule in goal at the Lightning, when his predecessor Ben Bishop was making a name for himself as number one goalie in Tampa Bay, the Lightning gave a chance to a Latvian goaltender by the name of Kristers Gudlevskis.
The latter did not have a long career in the National League, but what brought him to his doorstep nonetheless was that when no one believed Latvia capable of beating Canada in the Sochi Olympic tournament in 2014, Gudlevskis’ prowess had helped him heat the buttocks of a world power. After 40 minutes, in Canada’s locker room, everyone except Carey Price was worried that the game had yet to be put out of reach for Latvia when this quarter-final should have been. a formality.
Canada ended up making logic prevail with a goal from Shea Weber, but not without shedding enough cold sweat to shower their unexpected rivals with pride.
Latvia didn’t even have to win the game that day to be remembered. It simply took a group that was definitely inferior to its opponents to decide that, whatever the cost, the favorites would not wipe their feet on it.
There was no real Gudlevskis at the Canadiens on Tuesday night in Tampa Bay, although goaltender Samuel Montembeault fought like a dog to keep his team in the game.
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