Vasilevskiy trying to lead Lightning down Smith's historic path

It's been 40 years since an NHL goalie won three Stanley Cup championships in consecutive seasons. Indeed, Hall of Famer
Billy Smith
added a fourth to that with the New York Islanders dynasty, between 1980-83; his backup,
Roland Melanson
, won three in a row between 1981-83.

Today, 33 years since he played his final NHL game, almost three decades since he was a Class of 1993 Hall of Fame inductee, Smith is probably enjoying the brilliant Stanley Cup Playoff run of Andrei Vasilevskiy, the Tampa Bay Lightning goalie whose team has won 10 straight playoff series and is now eight victories from its third consecutive title.
But Battlin' Billy isn't about to share his thoughts.

"The way I feel now, if you're not seen, you shouldn't be heard," Smith said, politely declining to discuss Vasilevskiy or the Stanley Cup Playoffs in broader terms. "I just kind of stay away from it, if you don't mind."
And then, in huge understatement: "But I will say that the Islanders had some pretty good teams, and that's what it takes to win."
If hockey isn't hearing from Smith today, interviews of no appeal to him, it heard a lot during his intense playing days. The powder keg goalie's chirping of opponents was almost as loud as the sound of his heavy stick making contact with various body parts of the skaters who crowded his crease.
At some point, Smith decided that the NHL narrative didn't need his voice. But if he's quietly been paying attention the past two-plus seasons, he'd surely have noticed the superb play of Vasilevskiy, and the few things that link them together.

Smith was handsomely rewarded during his third and fourth Stanley Cup victories on Long Island. He won the
Vezina Trophy
in 1981-82, the first time it was awarded not based on statistics but by a vote of NHL general managers, and was elected winner of the 1983 Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the postseason, his last of four career championships.
Vasilevskiy won the Vezina in 2018-19, the season before his first of back-to-back Cup titles; he won the
Conn Smythe
last season, setting the stage for Tampa Bay's charge now into the Eastern Conference Final against the New York Rangers.
In Smith's four-Cup run, he had a record of 57-13 with four shutouts, a 2.64 average and .906 save percentage. The Islanders' 1983 victory was crowned with a four-game Final sweep of the Edmonton Oilers, whose 424 regular-season goals were 74 more than the No. 2-ranked Montreal Canadiens.

Smith, at 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds, held the Oilers scoreless in seven of 12 periods, including a Game 1 shutout. He also kept
Wayne Gretzky
off the scoreboard for the entire series. Islanders general manager Bill Torrey said at the time that his Conn Smythe-winning goalie "may be the all-time money player," at his best with everything on the line.
Smith is the only NHL goalie to play at least eight career potential elimination games and not record a loss.
Vasilevskiy, a tad much bigger than Smith at 6-3, 225 pounds, is 42-17 in his 2019-20 and 2020-21 championships and two rounds this season, with seven shutouts, 1.96 average and .932 save percentage.
He humbly deflected praise for his 2019 Vezina Trophy to his Lightning teammates.

"This award's not just mine," he said. "It goes to our team, for sure, all the guys working extremely hard. Once again, I want to thank my teammates. … My main goal is still the Stanley Cup. Of course, the Vezina, it's good too. I'm very happy to get it. But my main goal is the Stanley Cup, for sure."
A goal that was achieved the following season, and the year after that.
If the Vezina, Conn Smythe and back-to-back championships link Smith and Vasilevskiy, their ties unravel in the penalty-minutes column. In 679 regular-season games, the take-no-prisoners Smith piled up 475 minutes, dwarfing Vasilevskiy's 32 minutes through 365 games. Only the short-fused Ron Hextall has been tagged for more in NHL history, assessed 569 minutes in his 608 games for the Philadelphia Flyers, Quebec Nordiques, Islanders then Flyers again from 1986-99.
In 92 career playoff appearances, Vasilevskiy has four penalty minutes. Smith picked up 89 minutes in his 132 playoff games.

"I don't bother people unless they're bothering me," Smith said during the Islanders' string of Cup wins. "I just try to give myself a little working room."
There are some who would suggest that Smith bothered these people first, just to beat the rush.
Vasilevskiy is the most recent of 45 NHL goalies to have won the Stanley Cup multiple times, a list led by the six titles of three Canadiens:
Jacques Plante
, between 1953-60;
Charlie Hodge
, 1956-66; and
Ken Dryden
, 1971-79. Marc-Andre Fleury is the only active goalie with more Cup wins than Vasilevskiy, having won three with the Pittsburgh Penguins between 2009-17.
Vasilevskiy has made history of his own this postseason. His 2-0 Second Round Game 4 shutout of the Florida Panthers on May 23 saw him become the NHL's first goalie to record six series-clinching shutouts, passing the five of Clint Benedict and Chris Osgood.

Only three goalies can claim two Stanley Cup wins, two first-team All-Star selections and a
Vezina Trophy
by age 27: Hall of Famers
Terry Sawchuk
and
Patrick Roy
, and Vasilevskiy. Add the
Conn Smythe
to the list and it's only Roy and Vasilevskiy.
There's much hockey left to be played, but should Vasilevskiy win a third championship, he'll join eight other goalies with that total, including Hall of Famers
Martin Brodeur
and
Rogie Vachon
.
Vasilevskiy can also become the fifth to record at least three consecutive Stanley Cup-clinching wins, joining Plante (five from 1956-60); Dryden (four, 1976-79); Smith (four, 1980-83); and
Turk Broda
(three, 1947-49).
His modesty is proving to be the equal of his excellence.
"It's my job to just give our boys the chance to win," he said after the Lightning's second-round sweep of the Florida Panthers. "Just such a great effort by everybody on our team. It's obviously not just me. I'm just trying to do my job as best I can."
Photos: Hockey Hall of Fame (Paul Bereswill; Lewis Portnoy; Stan Gilliland); Getty Images