Ben Bishop returns as Tampa Bay Lightning beat Buffalo 4-2

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
January 12, 2017

TAMPA, Fla. – With one outlet pass from behind his own net to spring the Tampa Bay Lightning transition game, goaltender Ben Bishop showed what sort of an impact he can have. And why his three-week absence was felt.

Bishop returned to the net on Thursday, playing a big part in a 4-2 victory against Buffalo and snap the Lightning’s four-game losing streak. Bishop finished with 24 saves to earn his 10th victory of the season and improve to 10-0-1 all-time against the Sabres.

Ondrej Palat, who lost some teeth during practice on Tuesday, scored twice and added an assist to lead the offense. Nikita Kucherov and Anton Stralman also scored to help the Lightning avoid their first five-game losing streak in regulation since Feb. 24 – March 3, 2013.

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That’s not to say that the recent woes endured by Tampa Bay was a goaltending issue, but having a two-time Vezina Trophy winner back in net provides a certain type of emotional boost.

”Anytime you get your regulars back, and right now we are looking for a lot of things to help push us to a better place than we have been the last couple of games,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “Just to inject him in there . . . the guys had energy. Everything was positive on the bench and the guys went out to win a hockey game and that’s what they did.’’

That presence was felt, not just in some of the timely saves he made, especially in the third period, but in his ability to play the puck and cut off the forecheck was noticeable.

”The saves he made, the way he played the puck, how many pucks he stopped behind the net, it just held their (defenseman), so it was good to have him back,’’ Cooper said.

It didn’t start that way, however, as the Sabres had a 2-on-1 chance in the opening minutes and Matt Moulson scored on Buffalo’s first shot of the game just 2:58 in to the game as Tampa Bay allowed the opening goal for the 27th time this season.

”It would have been nice to start with a little bit of an easier one, but there’s not much you can do, (Moulson) made a pretty good shot,’’ Bishop said. “But I wasn’t too worried about it, it was nice to get a couple of saves after that, but maybe it would have been nice to start with a long (shot) to start.’’

The Lightning were able to answer as the Sabres took two successive penalties that resulted in a 42-second, 5-on-3 power play chance that Palat cashed in on sitting at the low right slot to put in a cross-ice pass from Tyler Johnson to tie the game at 5:37.

Palat gave Tampa Bay its first lead of the game 5:18 in to the second period, finding a rebound in the slot off a shot from Nikita Nesterov for his eighth goal of the season, fifth since returning from injury on Dec. 27.

”We had some good puck possession and we were making plays,’’ Palat said. “And when you have the puck all the time, it made the game easier. ‘’

Kucherov notched his team-high 17th goal of the season at 12:58, finishing off a strong pass from Victor Hedman to give Tampa Bay its first two-goal lead since New Year’s Eve against Carolina. From there it was about continuing to make smart plays and hold the Sabres off, even after Evander Kane scored on an open chance from the slot at 10:30 of the third period to cut it to a one-goal game.

And Bishop ensured it would remain intact.

”He was phenomenal,’’ Hedman said of Bishop. “He was calm with the puck and made some big saves for us. Obviously, a tough start, a breakaway right away. He grew into it, played the puck well, moved well and made some big saves for us. It was a lot of fun to see him play with that confidence.’’

It helped the Lightning pick up a much needed victory to avoid falling further down the Atlantic Division standings.

”It’s big. We needed two points,’’ Bishop said. “A team that was right on our heels and we’re chasing teams too. Any way you can get points right now is important, and tonight was a pretty good game I thought by everybody. We didn’t give them too much. We scored when we had chances, so we’ll take it.’’

Postgame notes: Marty St. Louis, along with his three sons Ryan, Lucas and Mason, participated in a pregame ceremonial puck drop, a precursor to Friday’s jersey retirement ceremony.. … C Brian Boyle returned to the lineup after missing four games with a lower body injury. … RW Gabriel Dumont played 10:06 in his Lightning debut with one shot on goal and won 3-of-4 faceoffs … D Luke Witkowski was a healthy scratch. … Ryan Callahan (lower body) and J.T. Brown(/i> (upper body) were both scratched. … Nikita Kucherov scored his 85th career goal, moving past Rob Zamuner in to sole possession of 10th place on the all-time franchise list. … Tampa Bay improved to 19-4-1 this season when scoring three or more goals. … The Lightning are 1-3-3 in the second half of back-to-back games this season, 0-2-3 in the past five.

My three stars:
1.Lightning LW Ondrej Palat – Two goals, assist, five shots, plus-2

2.Lightning RW Nikita Kucherov – Goal, plus-2, seven shot attempts

3.Lightning G Ben Bishop – Stopped 24 shots including 10 in the third period