New York Islanders Daily: Kristers Gudlevskis Nearly Upsets Canada

New York Islanders and Bridgeport Sound Tigers goalie Kristers Gudlevskis nearly stole a win for Latvia over Team Canada in the IIHF Tournament.

For a majority of this tournament, we’ve focused on Team Canada because they have five players from the New York Islanders representing their country. Technically, Kristers Gudlevskis, who played 37 games for the Sound Tigers last year counts too.

Gudlevskis plays for Team Latvia. When you think of hockey powerhouses Latvia doesn’t necessarily come to mind. Yet they almost pulled a huge upset yesterday on the back of Gudlevskis.

Latvia forced overtime against Team Canada. This is a feat in itself because Latvia is a team Canada should’ve handled with ease. But, after Anthony Beauvillier’s first-period goal 2:51 into the game Canada was held scoreless the rest of regulation.

In OT Connor McDavid would end up getting the game winner but this game certainly was made interesting because of Gudlevskis. He stopped 32 of 34 shots faced for a .941 save percentage. The problem for Latvia is they only managed 16 shots on goal.

During the AHL regular season, Gudlevskis was below average in net. He had a .897 save percentage and a 2.83 goals against average. Gudlevskis has played three games in the NHL since the 2013-2014 season.

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