PITTSBURGH — The sight of their franchise goalie writhing in agony did little to slow down the Tampa Bay Lightning.
How could it? Watching the bold-faced names on their roster taken off the ice with their long-term status unknown has become commonplace for perhaps the NHL’s most resilient team. When Vezina Trophy finalist Ben Bishop left Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals Friday night in the first period with a left leg injury, the Lightning wished him well and went right back to work.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 stops filling in and Tampa Bay bottled up the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 3-1 victory to seize home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven series.
“I think we played well even before (Bishop’s injury) and we kept going,” said forward Ondrej Palat, who scored his third goal of the postseason.
The massive 6-foot-7 anchor at the back end of the Lightning defense left on a stretcher 12:25 into the series after his left leg wrenched awkwardly underneath him as he tried to scramble back into position. Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said X-rays were negative and there appears to be no structural damage to Bishop’s leg, though Cooper offered no indication on whether Bishop will be available for Game 2 Monday night in Pittsburgh.
The Lightning dropped just two games while sprinting to their second straight appearance in the conference finals despite missing franchise center Steven Stamkos and top defenseman Anton Stralman, both of whom remain out indefinitely with health issues. If Bishop can’t go, they’ll rely on Vasilevskiy, a 21-year-old who was thrust into a similar position during last spring’s Stanley Cup finals against Chicago, winning Game 2 in relief.
Nearly a year later Vasilevskiy finds himself in a similar spot. He hardly looked overwhelmed by the big stage or shaky from rust. Having his teammates grab a three-goal lead and block 15 shots in front of him helped Vasilevskiy get comfortable in his first extended action in more than a month.
The meeting between two of the fastest teams in the league was supposed to play in stark contrast to Pittsburgh’s physical six-game series with Washington. The anticipated track meet never materialized, and the scoring chances created off the rush were one-sided in favor of the Lightning.
Tampa Bay struck 18:46 into the first when Alex Killorn slipped behind struggling Pittsburgh defenseman Olli Maatta and slotted a shot between Matt Murray’s legs. Palat doubled the lead 2:33 into the second when Valtteri Filppula’s slap shot smacked off Murray’s pads and — with no Penguins around to get in his way— Palat reached out and slammed home the rebound. Jonathan Drouin finished off a 3-on-2 by burying a feed from Palat into the open net 18:25 into the second period to give the Lightning complete command.
Facing just their second three-goal deficit of the playoffs, Pittsburgh drew within two on Patric Hornqvist’s power-play goal with just 55 seconds left in the second, a shot from the right circle set up by a pretty between-the-legs flick by Sidney Crosby. While the score seemed to give the Penguins a decided lift — they carried the play over much of the final 20 minutes — the Lightning and Vasilevskiy held on to grab the early momentum in a series that looks far more contentious going forward than it appeared going in.
“I don’t think they saw our best today,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said.
