Ek's note: Today we are thrilled to welcome Erik Erlendsson to Hockeybuzz.com. Many of you have read Erik for years and it is hard to find anyone in the hockey world who doesn't consider Erik the foremost beat writer for the Lightning. To begin with Erik will be covering the Lightning playoff run for us as well as the draft and UFA period...all of which just may be an interesting time around this team and some pending superstars who may or may not be leaving the western Florida coast in the next few months. Please join me in welcoming Erik and absolutely follow him on twitter at @Erik_Erlendsson...enjoy!
Ben Bishop, the underappreciated super star
The Lightning has some big names on their roster – Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman and Ryan Callahan among them. Even Nikita Kucherov and his postseason heroics have started to garner strong name recognition when it comes to thinking about the Lightning.
But the tallest player on the Lightning roster might be the most important of all of them, even if he is not the first that comes to mind.
Sure, there are few teams that have the type of success enjoyed by the Lightning that don’t have solid, reliable goaltending. The position is always the backbone of a team.
Yet when it comes to talking about elite level goaltenders in the league, rarely does the conversation turn to Bishop. The talk is more likely to focus on Carey Price, Jonathan Quick, Braden Holtby, Tuukka Rask or even Corey Schneider.
It’s time to put Bishop in that category and start debating on whether or not Bishop deserves to be at the top of that list.
For the second time in three seasons Bishop is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy as the top goaltender in the regular season. But it’s been his work in the postseason that really warrants the debate.
As Bishop shutout the New York Islanders in a Game 5 victory to send Tampa Bay to the Eastern Conference finals for the second consecutive season, it put another impressive number on the already impressive playoff resume for Bishop.
In the five series clinching games dating back to last season, Bishop has allowed one goal.
One goal.
Let that sink in for a little bit longer. That’s a total of 300 minutes of action in games that send Tampa Bay on to the next round and Bishop has allowed one goal.
In the 2015 playoffs Bishop pitched a shutout in Game 7 against Detroit in the first round, one goal in Game 6 against Montreal in the second round and kept the New York Rangers off the board in Madison Square Garden in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals. In the opening round of the 2016 playoff series against Detroit, Bishop stopped 34 shots in a 1-0 victory in Game 5 that allowed the Lightning to advance to the second round.
Then on Sunday, Bishop stopped all 28 shots to record his fourth shutout in five games that eliminated an opponent. According to Elias Sports Bureau, the four shutouts in series-clinching games is tied for the second most in NHL history, one behind Chris Osgood, tied with Martin Brodeur and Jacques Plante.
In those series clinching games, Bishop has stopped 133-of-134 shots for a save percentage of .993 and a goals against average of 0.20.
Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper summed up the situation pretty succinctly when asked about Tampa Bay’s success in those five series-clinching victories.
“Two words, and they both start with Bs,’’ Cooper said. “Ultimately you need your guy back there to be the man and he’s been the man.’’
For a goaltender that had plenty of question marks surrounding him last year as he entered his first ever NHL playoffs, Bishop has answered them all with exclamation marks.
In six total series, Bishop has tied the franchise record for playoff victories with 21, matching the mark by Nikolai Khabibulin, who led Tampa Bay to a championship in 2004.
In 35 playoff games, Bishop has a record of 21-13 with a goals against average of 2.10 and save percentage of .926. In the 2016 playoffs to date, Bishop has won eight of 10 games with a 1.89 goals against and .938 save percentage, allowing two or fewer goals eight times.
As Cooper said, Bishop has been the man for the Lightning in the playoffs.
“He’s played his A-game all year for us, he’s been there all year for us,’’ right wing Ryan Callahan said. “It’s comforting knowing that he’s back there.’’
But Bishop doesn’t think about the numbers or the accolades, what’s been on his mind this postseason is thinking about what went wrong last year and correcting them this time around. And in the two chances he’s had to slam the door, he’s been perfect.
“Last year we had a couple of (possible clinching games) that we let slip away and I was pulled and that was home,’’ Bishop said. “We really wanted to clamp down when we had an opportunity. Really after last year in having those two games that didn’t go so pretty, that’s one thing we learned is when you have a chance to close out an opponent you need to take advantage of it.’’
Maybe that’s why Bishop’s name does not dominate the conversation when it comes to Tampa Bay’s top players, because when he does dominate, his thoughts are on anything but himself.
Follow Erik on Twitter at @Erik_Erlendsson
Ek's Note: I will have a blog for you this afternoon, but we will definitely discuss this past weekend and more on today's HockeybuzzCast Live at 1pm.
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