On a wraparound attempt by Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist, a sliding Bishop appeared to catch his right leg on the goal post, resulting in the injury.
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It was a stunning turn of events Saturday, when Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman told the Tampa Bay Times that Bishop was day-to-day.
Perhaps the biggest headline was the early exit of Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop, who was injured after 12:25 in the first period.
Vasilevskiy finished with 25 saves in Game 1 and, perhaps more incredible, turned Penguins goalie Matt Murray into the elder statesman between the pipes. Having him in the lineup for Game 2 on Monday night seems like a long shot at best even if Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper did not rule it out as the Lightning try to take a 2-0 lead with them back to Florida.
With 16 minutes left in the third period, the Lightning were up 3 to 1 against the Penguins. Dumoulin did not return to action, but Palat will likely not face any discipline from the NHL.Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals will get underway on Monday night in Pittsburgh beginning at 8 p.m. on NBCSN.
Bishop said he realized it was not a severe injury when the doctor started tending to him.
“He’s not favoring anything, so it’s a really good sign”, Cooper said.
Enter Vasilevskiy, still more than two months away from his 22nd birthday.
Pittsburgh insisted it was a far different team than the one that lost all three regular-season meetings to the Lightning, pointing to the club’s strong finish and heady play while dispatching the Rangers and the Capitals as proof the Penguins were much improved over than the group Tampa Bay last saw on February 20. “We’ve got to heed the lessons from Game 1, and we’ve got to just be ready to respond the right way”. Lightning LW J.T. Brown, out since Game 2 of the first round against Detroit with an upper body injury, did return. “I think when he is challenging, you need to use those lateral plays to get him moving”.
The Penguins will stick with rookie goaltender Matt Murray. They led the Pacific Division for most of this season before finishing one point out of first place.
“There was complete confidence in Vasilevskiy in the sense that, I don’t know, if there was a concern, it was about Ben’s health”, Cooper said.
The Lightning also lost center Tyler Johnson later in the period when his knee collided with Penguins left winger Chris Kunitz. At 2:50, Ryan Callahan was called on a five-minute boarding major. Letang made it off the ice under his own power and returned later in the period.
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The sight of their franchise goalie writhing in agony did little to slow down the Tampa Bay Lightning.
