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The Tampa Bay Lightning may have won Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Final with the Pittsburgh Penguins by a 3-1 final at CONSOL Energy Center on Friday night, but it came at a gigantic cost, at least for now, with an injury to superstar netminder and Conn Smythe frontrunner Ben Bishop.
In an attempt to play the puck behind his own net with 7:45 remaining in the first period, the entire sequence appeared to crumble, and forced Bishop to scurry back to his net, and that’s where things got messy. With sticks all around his legs and the puck dangerously close, Bishop appeared to have slipped on a turn back towards his own crease, and immediately tumbled down to the ice in agonizing pain.
A stretcher shortly followed and Bishop’s night was over, replaced by Andrei Vasilevskiy.
With their goaltender out, the Lightning offense responded with goals from Alex Killorn, Ondrej Palat, and Jonathan Drouin while Pittsburgh could only counter with just one of their own, a power-play goal from Patric Hornqvist scored at 19:05 of the second period.
As the Lightning held on for the Game 1 victory in spite of a 16-to-5 third-period barrage in shots from the Pens, it was Vasilevskiy that stopped 25-of-26 shots against, while the Tampa Bay defense stepped up with a strong effort that really limited Pittsburgh’s ability to generate quality chances on net.
Still, the concern after the game centered around the status of the 6-foot-7 Bishop.
According to Lightning head coach Jon Cooper, all x-rays on Bishop were negative. That’s a positive in terms of analyzing the potential of structural damage to Bishop (Cooper called it a ‘relief’ and that honestly might be an understatement), but his status for Game 2 is still completely unknown.
Random thoughts and notes
- This game was just full of drama. Even before Bishop went down, the Lightning were forced to kill to a five-minute major after Ryan Callahan’s vicious board on Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang.
I’m honestly surprised that Callahan was not completely tossed from this game, and though things seem a bit more at ease given the fact that Letang returned to the game, but I’m still curious to see if Callahan receives any supplemental discipline from the league for the incident.
- Then came a Chris Kunitz knee-on-knee hit to Tyler Johnson. ‘Cause that’s just what the Lightning -- already down Steven Stamkos, Anton Stralman, and now Bishop -- want to see. Johnson was not on the Tampa Bay bench to begin the second period, but did appear for another 11 shifts in this game, which is an encouraging sign. Still, something to watch as the series progresses.
- I can’t be the only one thrilled to see J.T. Brown back in the lineup, right? Out since Game 2 of the first round against Detroit with an upper-body ailment, the energetic winger returned for an efficient 8:33 of time-on-ice as the Lightning’s 11th forward with Vladdy Namestnikov.
- Defenseman Nikita Nesterov returned to the Tampa Bay lineup for the first time since Game 3 of the club’s second-round series with the New York Islanders. In just 7:34 of time on ice, the 5-foot-11 defender logged one shot on goal, three hits, and a blocked shot.
- If the defense continues to play like they did on Friday night, and if Vasilevskiy keeps bad goals out of his crease, the Lightning may actually be able to survive this series without Ben Bishop. Especially if Stralman returns to the T.B. point sooner than later.
Up next
It’s Game 2 in Pittsburgh on Monday night. Game 2 has been kind to Cooper’s group over the last two postseasons, too, as the Bolts are 6-0 in Game 2s over that stretch.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.