RALEIGH, N.C. Andrei Vasilevskiy made his season debut for the Tampa Bay Lightning against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.The goalie missed 20 games after having microdiscectomy surgery for a herniated lumbar disk in his back Sept. 28."I know he's eager, " Lightning coach Jon Cooper said after the team's morning skate Friday. "There's a ton of work that's gone into getting to this spot. In total Andrei Vasilevskiy style, he's worked his tail off. This was a date circled on the calendar months ago, and we hit the target date and he's ready."Vasilevskiy was 34 22 4 with a 2.65 goals against average, .915 save percentage and four shutouts in 60 games last season, when he was sixth in the NHL in wins after leading or tying for the League lead each of the previous five 2017 22."We're obviously excited to have the best goaltender in the world back, " defenseman Victor Hedman said. "It's been a while since he's played a game, so we're going to have to do our best to help him out early on. He's obviously excited to go."The Lightning 9 6 5 are tied for third in the Atlantic Division and are 3 0 1 in their past four games. In Vasilevskiy's absence, Jonas Johansson went 8 4 5 with a 3.41 GAA, .894 save percentage and two shutouts in 17 games."We're looking at this as a 62 game run we have here, not just how's he going to do one night against Carolina, " Cooper said of Vasilevskiy. "We've got a goal in mind for our team Domenick Fensore Jersey, and we just have to keep plugging away and get points. Whether it's Vasilevskiy in net or Johansson, we're confident we can do so."Vasilevskiy won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's best goalie in 2018 19 and the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2021 after leading the Lightning to the Stanley Cup for the second straight season. Since 2015 16, Vasilevskiy leads the NHL in wins 256 and is third in shutouts 31."He's taken us to the peak of the mountain, " Cooper said. "You talk about core guys on this team, you talk about Steven Stamkos and Hedman, but Vasilevskiy is right in that breath. You wake up one morning, and all of a sudden, all these guys have eight years under their belts. 'Vas' is one of those guys. He's one of the cornerstones of our organization, so anytime you get one of those guys back Felix Unger Sorum Jersey, it's a pretty exciting time."The Hurricanes were averaging 33.6 shots on goal per game, second in the NHL behind the Pittsburgh Penguins 33.9 entering Friday."Playing against a shot volume team like Carolina is probably a good thing for [Vasilevskiy], " Hedman said. "We've just got to help him out as much as we can and eliminate Grade A's. We know Carolina, we've played them a bunch. We know what they're all about. So we're just going to execute our game plan and make it as easy as possible for Vas."