The Tampa Bay Lightning have lost number one goalie Ben Bishop for up to a month as he suffered the terrible lower body injury in the first period of the Red Wings game last Tuesday evening.
Latvian Olympic star Kristers Gudlevskis has been recalled from the Crunch on an emergency basis. Gudlevskis is 5-4-2 with a 2.89 GAA in 14 appearances this season for the Crunch. He gets the initial call up, but look for Adam Wilcox to make an appearance or two.
The Bolts play two more games before the Christmas break. Thursday vs. the St. Louis Blues at Amalie Arena and Friday night at Washington vs. the Capitals.
Tampa Bay must now rely on Andrei Vasilevskiy until the All-Star game on January 29. Reporter Erik Erlendsson reminds us that, “Tampa Bay has 17 games between now and then, including five sets of back-to-back games. That will be quite the workload for the 22-year-old former 19th overall pick, but he said he’s ready for whatever takes place.”
“The kid is ready to play, he’s a pro,” said Brian Boyle. “We have goaltending depth. Now we have to use it.”
“The trade deadline is March 1, and Bishop was expected to be a hot topic of speculation,” says beat reporter Joe Smith. Bishop is 9-10-1 this season with a 2.82 goals-against average and .906 save percentage in 21 starts. He’s 2-1-2 in his last five starts. Bishop set Lightning franchise records for games played and all-time saves earlier this season and played in his 250th career NHL game.
Bishop led the NHL with a 2.06 GAA and was 35-21-4, finishing second in Vezina Trophy voting to Braden Holtby of the Washington Capitals last season.
“Big Ben” becomes a member of the Bolts “Walking Wounded” Club and joins Steven Stamkos, Ryan Callahan, Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov…an all-star team of injured players.
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