The game couldn’t have started better for the Tampa Bay Lightning. They nearly scored in the first 30 seconds of the game, with another near miss just minutes later. A very quick turn of events resulted in a 5-minute major penalty against Ryan Callahan when he planted a quick check against the Penguins' Kris Letang.
Sadly, the injuries didn’t stop there. Ben Bishop killed the 5-minute power play, and then, with 7:35 left to go in the 1st, he got twisted up at the net trying to dart back to his left. The little bobble behind the net is what got him in trouble. He fell to the ice in such excruciating pain that he couldn’t get up of his own volition. The medical attendants brought out a stretcher to escort him off of the ice. Backup goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy replaced Bishop — Vasi's sixth career playoff appearance.
The Lightning have dealt with diversity all season long. Stamkos is out and still on blood thinners. Stralman is still out, too, and now Bishop. We can only hope that his injury looked worse than what it actually turns out to be.
After the game last night, Coach Cooper said that Bishop's X-rays had come back negative and the team was hoping for the best. This morning, General Manager Steve Yzerman reported that Bishop is considered "day-to-day" with a lower body injury.
During a conference call with Coach Cooper this afternoon, more good news: He said, "The injury has been better than it appeared when he was down on the ice on Friday night." The Lightning coach would not commit to Bishop being ready to play in Game 2 on Monday.
While this news seems hopeful, we can't be sure what's up — especially given that, after Bishop suffered a torn groin in last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, the true nature of his injury wasn't publicly revealed till after the season ended.
If losing Bishop wasn’t enough, Tyler Johnson got smashed into the boards by Chris Kunitz with 36 seconds left to go in the 1st. Johnson also needed assistance off of the ice after Kunitz collided knee to knee with him. Within minutes, the Tampa Bay Lightning had lost two of their best players. (Last year Johnson played with a broken wrist during the entire Stanley Cup Finals.)
After the eventful 1st period, Brian Boyle was asked about Bishop. “It’s never nice to see your teammate down. We count on Bish, we count on Vasi quite a bit. They’re our one-two punch.”
At 2:33 into the 2nd, Ondrei Palat increased the Lightning lead, 2-0. Halfway into the 2nd, Johnson was spotted back on the bench and was back on the ice a couple of minutes later. Jonathan Drouin expanded the Lightning’s lead even more at 18:25 into the 2nd, making it 3-0, Bolts. This was Drouin’s second goal of the playoffs. Although another star player was slashed, the Lightning held on to their lead.
Right at the end of the 2nd we saw some life from the Penguins when Hornqvist scored a goal to get the Pens on the board. The 2nd period ended with a score of 3-1, Lightning.The Lightning came into the 3rd with solid defense and held the score at 3-1.
With 7 minutes left in the 3rd, the arena was silent. There was no cheering, no waving of flags; some fans were even leaving. The Pittsburgh fans looked more defeated than the guys on the ice.
Less than 5 minutes to go in the 3rd, Palat gave Dumoulin a last-second push into the boards and was thrown in the box. Again the Pens failed to score. As more and more Pittsburgh fans left their seats, the 3rd period came to an end. Game 1 went to Tampa.
Vasilevskiy now has two career playoff wins, both relieving Ben Bishop.
This time the victory was particularly bittersweet.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will be played at the Consol Energy Center Monday, May 16th at 8 p.m.
This article appears in May 12-19, 2016.