The Lightning’s maybe-starting goaltender dropped that one Friday. It didn’t apply to everyone, either — just writers. At the start of his post-practice scrum, he shooed cameras away and wouldn’t start speaking until they were gone.
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It was a power move from a 20-year-old Russian dropped in the middle of the National Hockey League’s hottest fire before the peak of his profession, and a welcome one for chumps who work behind keyboards. “The stepladders are out,” is a phrase we’ve thrown around a lot over the course of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and it’s usually delivered in anger.
At some point in the past few years, camera crews started carrying them around to get leverage in scrums. It’s all in the game, but it also has a walling-in effect on everyone else. After a few minutes with my recorder in Patrick Kane’s face after Game 4, I wanted to leave, and could not. So, I got a few more minutes with Kane while my nose was in an armpit.
Things were more cramped in Chicago, given the size of the market and how much local interest there is in the Blackhawks, but cameras are cameras — and the stepladders don’t need to be out for stuff to get dodgy. During Lightning coach Jon Cooper’s Friday session — at an ice rink/laser tag arena, no less — the announcement was made: Steven Stamkos was talking down the hall.
Cue the stampede, in which a certain ESPN writer narrowly avoided getting LeBronned.
MORE: Game 5, 8 p.m. ET, Saturday; series tied 2-2 | Ben Bishop sits out Friday practice
The assumption was that Vasilevskiy, answering questions in his second language about Ben Bishop’s injury, his own readiness and whatever else anyone else felt like asking, would get the full stepladder treatment. Word got out, though, and he waited. And waited. And waited.
At the risk of reading too much into it, the whole act — saying “Hey, no cameras,” then staying quiet for 30 seconds while the horde tried to call his bluff — was the sort of poise Vasilevskiy’s teammates have alluded to over the past few days. Of course, they’re not going to say anything else — “Yep, we’re terrified to have the kid back there” — but really, they scoff at the question.
Then Vasilevskiy started talking.
“I still speak not really good for cameras,” Vasilevskiy said. “But for writers, yeah. For you, you can change words.”
On that level, he really should worry less. Vasilevskiy clearly understands the questions, which is Step 1, and the answers are delivered in a way that shows how thoughtful he is, and how articulate he will become. Friday’s session came without an interpreter.
— On whether he’ll be ready for Game 5, should Bishop be unable to go again: “That’s why I’m here in North America, just to play hockey. The last two days I have more fun than all season. That’s awesome.”
— On his 2014 KHL playoff experience with Salavat Yulaev Ufa, when he put up a .934 save percentage at 19 years old: “KHL, it’s” … he paused … “let me think this. KHL is little bit I think tougher schedule. Any series you play back-to-back, day off, back-to-back again. Any series. It’s nonstop games.”
— On whether he had any goaltending heroes: “No, nobody. I liked how Bish played. Seriously. Unbelievable. I’m learning a lot from Bish. That’s it. I like the way he plays.”
Vasilevskiy said he learned “lot of things. First it’s (how to) prepare for the game and mentally — head, body, everything — to prepare, it’s very important before game.”
On Saturday, depending on what happens with his hero during the morning skate, Vasilevskiy might have to put those preparation skills to use. If that comes to pass, the cameras will return, and if he wants, he’ll keep them out again.
