Tampa’s Ben Bishop takes stick through his mask (Video)

Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop took a stick to the face in the third period of Tampa Bay’s Saturday game at the San Jose Sharks and exited immediately.

It appeared the stick of Sharks forward Tomas Hertl inadvertently found its way through the wire cage surrounding Bishop’s face. The Tampa goaltender fell to the ice in pain and was helped by the team’s athletic trainer.

A video of the play is above.

The Lightning won the game 4-3 with Bishop stopping 24 of 26 Sharks shots on goal. Andrei Vasilevskiy replaced Bishop and stopped five of six San Jose shots on goal to help Tampa hold on for the victory.

After the game, Tampa coach Jon Cooper said he believed Bishop was going to be OK and called the play “a little scare.”

Bishop entered the game with a 1.99 goal-against average and .929 save percentage. He was 10-8-2. Last season, Bishop won 40 games and held a 2.32 goal-against average and .916 save percentage. 

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper