Ben Bishop Shuts Out Hurricanes In Lightning Debut


Ben Bishop joined his new teammates in style Thursday night, as he shut out the Carolina Hurricanes 5-0 in his Tampa Bay Lightning debut. Bishop was traded by the Ottawa Senators to Tampa Bay just before the trade deadline on Wednesday for rookie Cory Conacher and made his first start with the team a day later, stopping all 45 shots he faced for a new career-high.

The Lightning used a fury of goals in the second period to compliment Bishop’s big night to give the Hurricanes their third straight loss. Teddy Purcell opened up the scoring just 28 seconds into the frame for a 1-0 Lightning lead.

Tom Pyatt and Kieth Aulie scored late in the period to give the Lightning a three-goal lead and Ben Bishop plenty of breathing room. He wouldn’t need it, as the 26-year-old stopped all 17 shots he faced in the third period for his fifth career shutout.

Martin St. Louis and Benoit Pouliot added goals early in the third period to give the Lightning a 5-0 lead as Bishop continued to shut down the Hurricanes. The new Lightning goaltender is now 5-1 in his last six games, and was poised in net on his way to an impressive win.

Head coach John Cooper took over for Guy Boucher just over a week ago, and loved what he saw out of Bishop against the Hurricanes.

“It all starts on the back-end with our goaltender,” Cooper said after the game. “He really looked confident tonight.”

The Lightning are now tied with the Hurricanes for third in the Southeast with 34 points and are just five points behind the New York Rangers for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Lightning continue their three-game road trip on Saturday against the New York Islanders before a meeting with the Washington Capitals on Sunday.

Carolina held the division lead for most of the season, but fell apart when goaltender Cam Ward sprained his MCL. The Hurricanes have used Dan Ellis and Justin Peters in net while Ward heals, but have struggled of late.

Ellis got the nod against the Lightning, and looked helpless throughout the night, stopping 25-of-30 shots and is now 0-4-1 in his last six starts. The Hurricanes look to turn things around Saturday against the Rangers, who have won two straight.

The Lightning got everything they could ask for out of Bishop and then some in the 5-0 shutout. Tampa Bay has a lot of work to do if they hope to make a late push for the playoffs, and Bishop’s performance may just be the spark they need.

The Lightning haven’t had a lock down goaltender since Nikolai Khabibulin led them to a Stanley Cup in 2004 over the Calgary Flames. They may have finally found their guy in Bishop, a 6-foot-7 netminder with plenty of potential and great vision between the pipes.

Can Ben Bishop be the foundation of a late playoff run by the Tampa Bay Lightning?

[Image via Creative Commons]

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