Bolts get Stralman back; Callahan, Bishop out
The Tampa Bay Lightning approached Monday’s Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals with more optimism as it appeared their list of injured players could be shrinking. As it turns out, there was some good news and some bad news on that front Monday night.
After seven weeks on the shelf with a broken leg, No. 2 defenseman Anton Stralman returned to the Lightning’s lineup to give their blue line a big boost against the Pittsburgh Penguins. That’s the good news.
The bad news is, despite a more optimistic outlook for Ben Bishop following the lower body injury he suffered in Game 1 that forced him to exit the game on a stretcher, he is out of the lineup Monday. Not only that, but in a bit of a surprise, forward Ryan Callahan was also sidelined for Game 2. He practiced with the Lightning on Sunday but did not participate in their optional game day skate.
Getting Stralman back, however, remains huge for Tampa Bay. He is not only the Lightning’s second-best defenseman after Victor Hedman, he has become one of the best defensive players in the NHL over the past few years and is a key piece in the Lightning lineup. When he was on the ice during 5-on-5 play this season the Lightning surrendered just 47 total shot attempts per 60 minutes. Out of the 168 defensemen that played at least 750 minutes this season, that number put Stralman 12th in the entire NHL and tops on the Lightning, just barely ahead of Hedman. Getting him back in this series would be a huge help.
In net, the Lightning turn to Andrei Vasilevskiy, the talented 21-year-old goaltender that had to step into the Stanley Cup Final a year ago for an injured Bishop. So he’s had at least one major start in his brief NHL career.
It’s a testament to the Lightning depth and the play of their top players that they were able to deal with injuries to players like Stralman and Steven Stamkos through the first two rounds of the playoffs. Now Bishop and Callahan are taken away from the lineup as well, at least for this game. The team remains pretty dangerous, though.
Vasilevskiy replaced Bishop in Game 1, stopping 25 of the 26 shots. He appeared in four playoff games for the Lightning a year ago and stopped 17 out of 19 shots in his only start, a 2-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.
In 24 appearances this season he recorded a .910 save percentage.
Bishop played just 12 minutes in Game 1 before having to leave the game. As bad as the injury looked at the time, the Lightning have said that it doesn’t appear to be as bad as it first looked and that he is currently listed as being “day-to-day.”
Callahan was one of Game 1’s controversial figures after he hammered Kris Letang with a dangerous hit in the opening minutes. That drew him a major penalty, but there was no supplemental discipline. Though the Lightning don’t have to worry about a suspension, they won’t have his services anyway.
