The Tampa Bay Lightning have lost in the first round of the playoffs for three straight years, and now goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has apologized to the fans.
After making three straight Stanley Cup Finals and winning two of them, the Tampa Bay Lightning cemented themselves as a dynasty, but since that point, the success hasn't quite been there.
In the last three years, the team has been eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and after their last loss to the Florida Panthers in five games, frustration within the organization was clearly high.
Now, after the Game 5 loss, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has taken to the stand at his exit interview to apologize to the fans after the team has gone 1-9 in their last 10 post-season games played on home ice.
What the f**k is this? I just feel bad for the fans.
While he was certainly frustrated and very apologetic to the loyal fanbase that has followed their ups-and-downs over the past six years, Vasilevskiy was also very complimentary of the Florida Panthers, who have taken over the mantle as the NHL's most dominant team, especially in Florida.
It's unclear where Tampa Bay as an organization go from here, as they re-tooled this past off-season and trade deadline to make a run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but after another failure, questions continue to arise about the future of this once incredibly successful veteran group.
Ultimately though, they simply ran into a better team in Florida who took their chances and came away with a dominant series win, but with Vasilevskiy admitting they let the fans down, don't be shocked to see at least a few changes to the team this upcoming summer.
