Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop has left tonight’s game with the Toronto Maple Leafs with an apparent shoulder injury. Ben Bishop was injured on a weird play, the puck flipped up high in the air and Bishop tried to catch it like an outfielder catching a fly ball. He jumped and caught the puck, landing on his shoulder and immediately looked to be in a lot of pain. He was taken to the Tampa Bay dressing room and has not returned.
Edit: The Lightning have now announced that Ben Bishop has an upper-body injury and will not return tonight.
Backup goaltender Anders Lindback is now in goal for the Lightning.
The 6-foot 7-inch Bishop has provided Vezina candidate quality goaltending for the Lightning this season (37-14-7, .924 SV%, 2.23 GAA, 5 SO). If he is lost for their opening round playoff series, likely to be against the Montreal Canadiens, it would be a massive loss for the Lightning. Bishop’s goaltending has been a major reason why the Lightning have gone from a 28th place team in 2012-13 to 3rd in the Atlantic division (4th in the Eastern Conference by points) this season.
The 27-year-old was acquired by the Lightning in a 2013 trade deadline move with the Ottawa Senators and may be one of Steve Yzerman’s best moves as Tampa general manager. The Lightning gave the Senators forward Cory Conacher and a fourth round draft pick in the deal.
Bishop was originally drafted in the third round (85th overall) of the 2005 NHL Draft by the St. Louis Blues.
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