Lightning confident Vasilevskiy will bounce back against Capitals

TAMPA --Andrei Vasilevskiy is going to need to be stronger if the Tampa Bay Lightning are going to come back after losing the first two games to the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference Final.
Vasilevskiy, a 2018 Vezina Trophy Finalist, made 31 saves in a
6-2 loss to the Capitals in Game 2
at Amalie Arena on Sunday. Through two games against the Capitals, Vasilevskiy has a 6.00 goals-against average and .839 save percentage. Entering the conference final, he had a 2.20 GAA and .927 save percentage.

Game 3 of the best-of-7 series is at Washington on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS).
RELATED: [Lightning facing 'gut check time' | Complete Lightning vs. Capitals series coverage]
Despite his struggles, Lightning coach Jon Cooper is committed to Vasilevskiy and isn't thinking about making a change to backup Louis Domingue, who made seven saves in the third period of Game 1 (a 4-2 loss) after Vasilevskiy was pulled.
"No, he's our guy," Cooper said. "The chances we're giving up, it's the five-man unit in front of him. You got to feel for him. If you have a choice for the guy you're throwing over the boards first in any situation it's Vasilevskiy. He's not been our issue."
Said defenseman Anton Stralman, "We all have tremendous belief in him, and he's a rock for our team. He's going to be back and be his best. We're not making his job easier. We're not executing our game plan defensively and offensively. The scoring chances are way up compared to the previous two series. That's on us, not him."
In Game 2, the Lightning's sloppy play on both ends of the ice led to several chances and odd-man rushes for the Capitals. Devante Smith-Pelly's goal at 2:50 of the second period to tie it 2-2 and Alex Oveckhin's goal at 3:34 of the third period to make it 5-2 each came on 2-on-1's.

While forward Alex Killorn believes Vasilevskiy will bounce back, it's on the rest of the team to do a better job of slowing down the Capitals' offense and limit their scoring chances.
"I think [Vasilevskiy] is going to be ready," Killorn said. "He's one of those guys that gets so into these games, he's so emotional, that it doesn't take much. For him, it will be a quick turnaround. He's been in these situations before. We know he's going to be there for us next game.
"Through the neutral zone, we have to do a much better job slowing [Washington] down, especially players like [Evgeny] Kuznetsov. Once he starts wheeling around with the puck, it's tough to defend against that, it's tough for our [defensemen] to gap up against that, so we just have to help our [defensemen] by getting better gaps on the forwards."