Andrei Vasilevskiy vs. Tuukka Rask

Goaltending is an integral part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. To better understand the strengths and weaknesses of the goaltenders in the second round, the final 100 goals allowed by each in the regular season and each goal allowed in the playoffs were charted, with the help of Apex Video Analysis and Save Review System from Upper Hand Inc., to see what patterns emerge.

Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy was the runaway leader for the Vezina Trophy during the first half of the season before fading down the stretch, but he looked more like his dominant early-season self defeating the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference First Round.
Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask also had his share of ups and downs, including some late-season struggles and an .899 save percentage defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs in that first-round series.
RELATED: [Complete Lightning vs. Bruins series coverage]
Rask and Vasilevskiy meet in the Eastern Conference First Round, which starts with Game 1 at Amalie Arena on Saturday (3 p.m. ET, NBC, SN, TVAS).
Here is an in-depth look at each goalie's game:

Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning

Vasilevskiy was spectacular through January of his first season as an NHL No. 1 and finished with a League-leading 44 wins, a .919 save percentage and eight shutouts. However, after playing in the Honda NHL All-Star Game for the first time, his save percentage was .902 for the remainder of the season. Asked to make a lot of tough saves behind some loose defensive play, the 23-year-old Russian appeared to rediscover his early form in the playoffs, showing off his incredibly fast skating, explosive power from his knees, and Gumbylike flexibility from any position.

Goal trends

Low shots in traffic: Vasilevskiy tries to find pucks at the point by looking over the traffic in front of his crease. The delay getting back down and sealing the ice cost him on some low shots under the pads in the regular season, and again when Devils forward Kyle Palmieri scored on a low slap shot from the point late in Game 5.
Blocker side: Vasilevskiy was beaten more on the glove side (five goals) than the blocker (three) in the first round, but the regular-season splits indicate the blocker might be a better target. The goal chart isn't indicative of save percentage, but Vasilevskiy gave up 47 percent of his goals over the pads on his blocker side, which is 16 percent above the average for goals tracked in breaking down playoff starting goalies for this project during the past two seasons. Devils defenseman Sami Vatanen beat him cleanly in that area with a wrist shot from between the top of the face-off circles in Game 2. It was a perfect shot, just over the pad and just inside the post, but it also showed Vasilveskiy's tendency to open, turn and reach on saves to that side.
Long rebounds: Vasilevskiy was better than the average with 18 percent of tracked regular-season goals coming from rebounds. The two rebound plays that led to goals in the first round were more a function of the inability of his teammates to control them. It's important to recognize low-shot rebounds are more likely to end up bouncing out to the face-off dot and beyond because Vasilevskiy's pads are designed specifically to generate active rebounds and propel the puck past the first wave of attackers around the net. On a couple of penalty kills against the Devils, Vasilevskiy cleared the zone by kicking low shots out past the blue line.

Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins

Rask lost his starting job early this season, regained his 2014 Vezina Trophy form through mid-February, then sagged late. The up-and-down trend continued in the first round against the Maple Leafs, though Rask didn't get a lot of help, especially early. Four of the first eight goals allowed came on odd-man rushes and he saw many high-quality chances from Toronto's skilled forwards.

Goal trends

Low and wide: Last season, Rask gave up 26 percent of his goals along the ice outside either skate. This season it was 28 percent, with the biggest number going in low to his right. He allowed seven goals along the ice outside his skates against Toronto, including three odd-man rushes and two breakaway moves that stretched him out onto his belly. But the way Rask plays these rushes, often starting outside his posts laterally before the initial pass, also makes it harder for him to recover side-to-side space on those plays. As a result, quick shots and one-timers, which accounted for 44 percent of his goals this season, can catch him moving.
Make him move: Lateral attacks increase the odds of beating any goalie and were a big factor in scoring on Rask this season. Fifty of his 100 tracked goals in the regular season came after a pass or play across the slot line, an imaginary line that splits the offensive zone from the goal line to the top of the face-off circles. Twenty-one of those 50 were allowed after Feb. 15. That's above the 33.9 percent average and it continued in the first round, with nine of 19 goals allowed after plays across the slot line, and another two with same-side lateral movement. Several came on odd-man rushes and cross-ice passes getting through that can lead to the goaltender cheating for a pass. Rask was off angle, hedging for a pass with his back skate, when Patrick Marleau beat him cleanly on a 2-on-1 in Game 3.
Far side: Getting caught flat, or parallel, to the goal line, on rush chances, like the Marleau goal, has been part of Rask's straight-line retreats against the rush in the past. He's done a better job of staying square to these attacks, but that tendency to get flat in his movements contributed to several far-side goals from clean shots, when he had time to set and see the release, as well as quick shots after lateral plays in the zone.
Post play: Rask continued to modernize his post-integration this season, and his sharp-angle goals dropped from 21 last season to 12 this season. But he was beaten three times by Toronto using reverse-VH, including two over the short-side shoulder, a space that can be targeted when he drops into this position with the puck near the bottom of the face-off circle.