Making 31 saves in a 2-1 overtime loss to Team Canada, Kristers Gudlevskis’ unbelievable efforts fall short at the 2018 IIHF World Championship.
There are seven New York Islanders representing the team at the World Championship: Mathew Barzal, Anthony Beauvillier, Jordan Eberle, Josh Bailey, and Ryan Pulock are playing for Team Canada. Anders Lee is playing for Team USA while Dennis Seidenberg is captaining Team Germany. You can keep track of all seven with our New York Islanders 2018 IIHF World Championship tracker.
But don’t forget about goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis who was traded from the Tampa Bay Lightning organization to the Islanders organization on July 1st, 2017 in exchange for F Carter Verhaeghe. Ten days later he signed a one-year, two-way deal with the team.
The Latvian born 25-year-old has been representing his country in tournaments for many years now. During the 2014 Olympic games in Sochi, Gudlevskis was the guy in goal for Latvia’s quarter-final game against Team Canada. Gudlevskis made an astonishing 55 saves on 57 shots against some of the best players in the world and the eventual champions in a 2-1 loss.
Monday morning was a similar story as it was once again Gudlevskis vs Team Canada, this time at the 2018 IIHF World Championship. Gudlevskis faced 33 shots and turned aside 31 of them in a 2-1 overtime loss.
Beauvillier, Gudlevskis’ teammate when he was down in Bridgeport for a week or so in January, opened the scoring and then Connor McDavid showed off his hand-eye coordination for the overtime winner.
In his first season with the Sound Tigers, Gudlevskis went 12-6-7, posting a 2.83 goals against average (GAA), a 0.897 save percentage (SV%), and three shutouts.
Kristers Gudlevskis best game on the season came on February 25th in a 39-save shutout against the Charlotte Checkers! pic.twitter.com/gfkGtvllOj
— Bridgeport Sound Tigers (@TheSoundTigers) May 10, 2018
At the NHL level, Gudlevskis has appeared in three games, all with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He made 36 saves on 38 shots to win in his NHL debut against the Columbus Blue Jackets on April 11th, 2014. On October 24th, 2014, he turned aside 31 shots in a 1-0 overtime loss to the Chicago Blackhawks and on December 23rd, 2016 he came in late against the Washington Capitals and stopped all three shots he faced.
