Written by Alec Nathan at Bleacher Reports.com
Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Ben Bishop suffered a lower-body injury during Tuesday night’s matchup against the Detroit Red Wings and was forced to leave the game.
On Wednesday, it was revealed that he will miss three to four weeks because of it, per Erik Erlendsson of LightningInsider.com.
Bishop suffered the injury during the first period after going down into the butterfly position to stop a shot from Red Wings defenseman Nick Jensen.
The injury bug continues to find Bishop, who suffered a left knee injury after falling awkwardly during Game 1 of the 2016 Eastern Conference Final against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the ailment was severe enough at the time that he had to be stretchered off the ice.
But before he was forced to bow out of the postseason, the VezinaTrophy finalist was positively superb throughout the 2015-16 campaign. In 61 appearances, the 30-year-old went 35-21 with a .926 save percentage and a league-leading 2.06 goals-against average tally.
But 22 games into the 2016-17 season, Bishop has regressed with a 9-10-2 record with a .907 save percentage and a 2.79 goals against average.
For a team that’s already without Steven Stamkos, who is recovering from a right knee injury that required surgery and will likely hold him out for the remainder of the regular season, Bishop’s loss will provide just another hurdle for the 16-14-3 Lightning.
Andrei Vasilevskiy will be Tampa Bay’s interim starter in net a year after he went 11-10 and posted a .910 save percentage. He’s been better than Bishop this year, going 7-4-1 with a .923 save percentage and 2.41 goals-against average.
Considering that he inked a three-year contract extension over the summer with Bishop’s deal set to expire at the end of the season, a long-term absence like this could open the door for the 22-year-old to make the Lightning his team.
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