Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper dropped a bit of a bomb on Tuesday when he updated the health status of goaltender Ben Bishop, who sustained an elbow injury on April 8th.
While Cooper offered no specifics on how Bishop is progressing from his injury, which is officially listed as an ailment of the "upper body" variety, the Tampa Bay bench boss did reveal that Bishop would be unavailable to start in Game 1 of the Lightning's first round series against the Montreal Canadiens.
Bishop put up Vezina-worthy numbers for the Lightning in his first full season with the club. The 6-foot-7 puck stopper won 37 games, while stopping .924 percent of all shots faced.
Bishop's loss, even for just a single playoff game, could swing a series that appears to be evenly matched. In Bishop's absence the Lightning will turn to Anders Lindback, who posted a brutal .894 save percentage in 23 appearances. Rookie goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis, who only has one game of previous NHL experience but impressed in the Latvian net at the 2014 Winter Olympics, will serve as Lindback's backup.
