Sure, the number was jarring. 

Six goals allowed by Andrei Vasilevskiy was like Mets ace pitcher Jacob deGrom giving up six runs in three innings. The Tampa Bay goaltender is regarded as the best in the world at what he does. It was a shock to the system for Vasilevskiy. 

After Wednesday night’s 6-2 Rangers win over the Lightning in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final at the Garden, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper was quick to exonerate his netminder, insisting that the loss was “not on him.’’ 

On Thursday, at the Tampa Bay off-day skate at the Garden, the Lightning coach and players quickly came to better defense of Vasilevskiy than they did in front of his crease on Wednesday. 

The overriding feeling: No one’s worried about Vasilevskiy entering Friday night’s Game 2 at the Garden. 

“Intensity and work ethic … he’s at the top of the list in that regard,’’ Cooper said. “Our team takes losses personally, but I would say the goalie really takes losses personally. That’s probably why he’s so good at bouncing back in games after we were on the short end.’’ 

Vasilevskiy yielded a total of three goals in Tampa’s 4-0 sweep of Florida in the previous series. The six goals the Rangers stamped on him Wednesday doubled that total. 

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“To me, I think they’re both aberrations,’’ Cooper said. “Us giving up six on a nightly basis really doesn’t happen, and us going through a four-game series and only giving up three doesn’t really happen. So, I guess we’ve watched the extremes in both cases.’’ 

The overall theme to those who came to the defense of Vasilevskiy was that the play in front of him was more of a factor than his play. But the reality is he looked a tick slow on some of the Rangers’ goals, allowing a couple of shots past him on the stick side and over his shoulder and, on one goal, not reacting quickly enough with a slide to the other side of the cage. 

It’s possible the nine-day layoff without a game affected Vasilevskiy more than his teammates in terms to regaining his game sharpness and twitch speed. 

“You just don’t get to replicate a playoff game of this magnitude in practice,’’ Cooper said. “That’s not why we lost. But you have to overcome those things. When you give up a two-on-one in the first 90 seconds to a guy [Chris Kreider] who’s got north of 50 goals, that’s tough. 

“I don’t care who was in there — if Vasi was in there or [Igor] Shesterkin was in or Henrik Lunqvist was in, those pucks were going in the net. Those were some wide-open looks from some really good players, and our team game has got to eliminate those type of chances.’’ 

Tampa Bay defensemen Zach Bogosian came to his netminder’s defense Thursday. 

“Vasi is a world-class player, a world-class goaltender, and we’re in the position the last few years just from his play,’’ he said. “We can’t peg [that Game 1 loss] on anyone, really. As a team, we have to do better, because we knew [Vasilevskiy] is going to come up huge for us.’’