It looked like Ben Bishop’s season was over after he had to be stretchered off the ice during Game 1 between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Bishop fell and twisted his knee awkwardly, leading the goaltender to audibly yell out as trainers rushed to his aid. Remarkably, Bishop is listed as day-to-day even though he too thought he had a serious injury.
Ben Bishop: "I was really scared. I thought my leg was broken."
— Joe McDonald (@JoeyMacHockey) May 15, 2016
It was easy to fear for the worst when Bishop went down. If he didn’t break his leg, it at least looked like he tore/ruined some muscles either in his knee or all throughout his leg. The X-rays came back negative, which was almost more shocking than the injury itself.
Andrei Vasilevskiy played well in relief in Game 1 and will likely be called on again for Game 2 even though Bishop hasn’t officially been ruled out at this time. The Lightning would be wise to be cautious with Bishop’s lower-body injury and aim for a Game 3 return even if he proves to be ready in time for Game 2.
Meanwhile, we’ll sit here and try to figure out how Bishop’s season isn’t over.
