Miraculously, Bishop is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury, an nearly implausible scenario given the apparent severity of the injury on Friday and the obvious pain Bishop was in as he pounded his fist against the ice immediately after falling and grabbing his left leg. Your mind just starts spinning. “It’s amusing how much stuff you can think about in a short period of time”.
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“It was just a scary experience”, Bishop said.
According to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times, Bishop was walking with no limp and had no brace on his leg. Just pain right away. Bishop was taken from the ice in a stretcher. Andrei Vasilevskiy was called upon to take Bishop’s place in the net and performed well, only giving up one goal to the Penguins on the powerplay on Patric Hornqvist’s sixth of the playoffs. And I was like, oh, what was that.
“Your mind just starts racing”.
“Now it’s just a matter of getting back to where it feels good again”, said Bishop, who has not been officially ruled out for Game 2.
Cooper was optimistic that X-rays showed no structural damage in Bishop’s knee.
There has yet to be an announcement on Bishop’s status. Additionally, apparently out of the view of media, Bishop said he tested out his leg with a short skate before practice.
Bishop was voted a Vezina Trophy finalist this year, and now has a 1.86 goal-against average and.939 save percentage through 11 games this postseason.
Pittsburgh was bound to come out a little flat, but the Penguins were given the chance to get the jump with the early major penalty and Bishop’s injury.
When Vasilevskiy came on in relief of Bishop on Friday, it created a situation where both goaltenders in the game were 21 years old.
He left Game 2 of the Cup Final and was replaced by Vasilevskiy, who won that game. The Lightning controlled play long enough after Bishop went down for Vasilevskiy to get comfortable. He played in a Stanley Cup Final a year ago and played really well, and he’s played well all season…
The Lightning looked like the more resilient group – one of Pittsburgh’s trademarks over the last three months – same as they did late in the season and throughout the playoffs while playing without their captain, Steven Stamkos, and one of their best defensemen, Anton Stralman.
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“I don’t think they saw our best today”, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said.
