“At first, it’s pretty bad, not feeling it, but I think we’ll get through it”, said another fan. “I saw the play, fell back and felt something I’ve never felt before, pain right away”.
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The real scare, however, was Ben Bishop’s injury in the middle of the first that had the netminder stretchered off. Bishop, who injured his groin in the Stanley Cup Final previous year and played off and on for the Lightning in that series, clearly tweaked something in his knee falling over in the blue paint.
“We just hope this is the end and, you know, we’re able to get all these guys back because you’ve heard me talk many times before, let’s not let this be (Anton) Stralman’s last game, (Steven) Stamkos, (J.T.) Brown, Bishop, all these guys. Your mind starts racing”.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 stops filling in and Tampa Bay bottled up the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 3-1 victory to seize home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven series.
As far as when he’ll be back, Bishop said he expects to be able to come back.
Bishop did not take part in the Lightning’s practice Sunday, but did test out his leg on the ice, wearing skates, beforehand.
That was a stunning disclosure on Sunday after Bishop appeared to have badly injured his left leg on Friday and was removed from the ice via stretcher. “But definitely just one of the scary things that have happened to me”. A return to the lineup for Monday’s Game 3 seems more likely now than it did at the start of the weekend.
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. That is where his status remains for now, but head coach Jon Cooper said the goaltender is getting better with each day.
He still has a little bit of pain and is taking it day by day. Meanwhile, Alex Killorn, Ondrej Palat, and Jonathan Drouin all picked up goals for the Tampa Bay Lightning to lead them to the win. Pittsburgh has not dropped consecutive games during the playoffs. “We apologize to those within the Lightning fan base who are offended and angered by our recent promotion with the Pittsburgh Penguins”.
Hornqvist and Ian Cole have been valiant in their efforts to step up and hold other players accountable; however, neither are real fighters (which is a benefit, most of the time). He showed a lot of promise then, and many expect him to be comfortable in this series having the experience he had previous year. Luckily for him and his team, the leg isn’t actually broken.
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However, when your hometown team has overcome as much as the Tampa Bay Lightning have been forced to overcome this season and are doing everything they can to make a repeat performance in the Stanley Cup Finals, what kind of organization decides to do their marketing with the opponents?
