Bishop leaves with injury, status unknown

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
December 20, 2016

TAMPA, Fla. – The injury riddled Tampa Bay Lightning lineup took another blow on Tuesday when goaltender Ben Bishop had to leave during the first period against the Detroit Red Wings.

Bishop departed the game at the 14:02 mark of the first period, after getting up slow following a scramble around the Lightning net. He was replaced by Andrei Vasilevskiy with Tampa Bay up 1-0 at the time.

The team announced that Bishop suffered an undisclosed lower body injury and would not return.

Bishop appeared to injure his right leg as he dropped to make a stop off the stick of Detroit defenseman Nick Jensen from the right circle. Bishop’s right leg flared out and appeared to lock in some capacity. The goaltender immediately leaned to his right and looked uncomfortable as he got back on his skates flexing his right leg.

Though he stayed in the game as play continued, during the next stoppage in play, Bishop made his way to the bench shaking he head, had a brief conversation with head medical trainer Tom Mulligan before heading straight to the locker room and did not return.

Lightning head coach Jon Cooper did not have any specific update on Bishop’s status following the game.

“He’ll get evaluated and we’ll have a better idea (Wednesday),” Cooper said. “It’s difficult (to see another injury), but hopefully this is a short term thing.”

{mprestriction ids=”1,2″}

Vasilevskiy, who is the heir apparent to the No. 1 job eventually, will have to shoulder the load if Bishop is out for any length of time. That’s a role the former first-round pick is ready to embrace.

“Sure, that’s why I’m here,” Vasilevskiy said of a possible increased work load. “That’s what I’m working for every day, that’s going to be a good opportunity for me to play more games.”

While Vasilevskiy, who picked up the victory on Tuesday after he let in a goal with 10.5 seconds left in the game, will garner a bulk of the playing time should Bishop be out for any long period of time, the next question turns to who the team calls up from Syracuse to serve as the back up. Lightning assistant general manager Julie BriseBois was on the phone in the hallway outside the team locker room with Director of Team Services Ryan Belec standing close by, indicating a call up is coming and will likely be announced on Wednesday. Whether it’s Adam Wilcox, who has assumed the No. 1 role for the Crunch with his early season play, or Kristers Gudlevskis, who has played well in his few opportunities at the NHL level, is the unknown.

While the extent of Bishop’s injury remained a mystery after the game, the team knows will have an affect throughout the locker room.

“You try not to look at it (from a purely negative way) you try to look at it as another big part of our club has gone done, and I don’t know the severity of the injury, but you feel for the guy watching him come out of the game, he’s in some pain,” center Brian Boyle said. “But then you look at Vasy, he comes in cold and the kid is ready to play, he’s a pro, they both are and we have goaltending depth. Now we have to use it.”

Unfortunately, the Lightning have experience having to use that depth as Bishop, a two-time Vezina Trophy finalist, has had his share of injuries over the course of his career with Tampa Bay.

At the end of the 2014 season he suffered a dislocated elbow a week before the end of the regular season after landing awkwardly while diving for a puck and missed the opening round series loss to Montreal.

During the 2015 Stanley Cup Final against Chicago, Bishop suffered a partially torn groin muscle in Game 2 of the series and missed Game 4.

Then last season Bishop was injured in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals against Pittsburgh and did not return as the Lightning lost in seven games to the eventual champion Penguins.

Now, it’s just another test in which the Lightning feel they are prepared for.

“We really like our goaltending and you have to have two guys,” Cooper said. “But let’s not speculate on Bish, he could be back tomorrow, who knows. But if he’s not, you have to have somebody else back there, and like I said, you could throw a dart at either goalie to see who is going to play the game and we have complete confidence in them.”{/mprestriction}