Lightning activate goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy off IR, will make season debut against Hurricanes

Vasilevskiy has yet to play during the 2023-24 season as he was recovering from back surgery

By Chris Bengel Nov 24, 2023 at 1:07 pm ET• 1 min read

The Tampa Bay Lightning have activated goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy off of injured reserve, according to head coach Jon Cooper. Cooper also revealed that Vasilevskiy will make his first start of the 2023-24 season against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.

Vasilevskiy missed the Lightning's first 20 games of the 2023-24 season while he recovered from back surgery.

In late September, the Lightning announced that Vasilevskiy underwent successful surgery to repair a lumbar disc herniation in his back. At the time, Tampa Bay expected Vasilevskiy to miss the opening two months of the season.

While Vasilevskiy has been out of the lineup, the Lightning have moved forward with a goaltender tandem of Jonas Johansson and Matt Tomkins. Johansson made the majority of the starts as he accumulated an 8-4-5 record to go along with a 3.41 goals-against-average and .894 save percentage. Meanwhile, the team placed Tomkins on waivers after he appeared in just three games.