Bishop fell awkwardly while scrambling to get in his crease with 7:35 remaining in the first period of the Lightning’s 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Consol Energy Center.
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Ben Bishop is day-to-day, Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman told the Tampa Bay Times on Saturday, a surprising development after the Tampa Bay goalie was taken off the ice in a stretcher Friday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. The leg is structurally intact and Bishop managed to spend a little informal time on the ice before Sunday’s practice, though he was long gone by the time the 21-year-old Vasilevskiy and the rest of the Lightning went to work.
Bishop left in the first with a leg injury at 12:25 of the opening period.
Tyler Johnson also missed some time in the first and second periods because of a leg injury. Luckily for him and his team, the leg isn’t actually broken. Although the Penguins were beaten in many aspects, they still weren’t far from making it a much more interesting game. “So we’re hoping for the best”.
“Everything’s been really good so far with Ben”, Cooper said. Bishop’s status is now unknown, but it would be a major blow to Tampa Bay if he’s unable to play in any of the next games. Then, given a late reprieve with a power-play opportunity with just under five minutes to go, the Penguins failed to score. “He had X-rays done, and everything came back negative”, Cooper said after the game. The Lightning blocked 15 shots and kept Pittsburgh’s star-laden attack under wraps while building a three-goal lead.
The Penguins had multiple chances to get themselves back in the game after Tampa Bay took a commanding 3-0 lead.
Backup Andrei Vasilevskiy came into Game 1 and stopped 25 of 26 shots.
So the fact Bishop was able to walk to the presser sans any brace or protection and navigate the stairs up to the podium without a limp was an extremely relieving sight after the scare from Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final.
While the injury sustained by Lightning goalie Ben Bishop on Friday night certainly looked bad, his prognosis might not be as poor as originally thought. Once he left with a lower-body injury and was pulled from the other after allowing three goals on 10 shots. Tampa Bay Lightning’s Ondrej Palat (18) is greeted by teammates on the bench after scoring against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the second period of Game 1 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals Friday, May.
Less than 5 minutes to go in the 3rd, Palat gave Dumoulin a last-second push into the boards and was thrown in the box.
Now it appears both teams might be relying on a young goaltender.
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Yet the sight of the Lightning’s talismanic goalie leaving the ice was the cue for a heroic performance from his replacement Vasilevskiy.
