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 Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 24 shots after Bishop, the Vezina
Trophy finalist, left with a possible serious injury, and the
Lightning overcame a lack of depth to neutralize Pittsburgh's stars
during a 3-1 victory over the Penguins in Game 1 of the Eastern
Conference finals Friday night.
"It's kind of been the mantra -- we've had guys go down in the
playoffs and we wanted to win for him," forward J.T. Brown said.
The Lightning, Stanley Cup finalists a season ago, got a goal from
their top line, by Alex Killorn, and two from their second line, by
Ondrej Palat and Jonathan Drouin, to beat Pittsburgh for the fourth
straight time this season and seize home-ice advantage.
Game 2 will be Monday night, when the Lightning -- already out
without star forward Steven Stamkos and shutdown defenseman Anton
Stralman -- are likely to be without Bishop, arguably their most
valuable player all season.
"It showed a lot of the strength of our team," to be able to win
with yet another star on the sidelines, Palat said.
Bishop, who had played all but 30 minutes during the first two
rounds, clutched his left knee in obvious pain and had to be carried
off the ice after playing the puck to the side of the net 12:25 into
the first. He played the finals last season with a badly injured
groin.
 Coach Jon Cooper said X-rays showed no structural damage in Bishop's
leg, but he offered no prognosis for the goalie's return.
"That's tough, (when) guys go down in that much pain. ... You feel
for the guy, hope he's OK," Lightning center Brian Boyle said. "You
know the kind of competitor he is, the teammate he is, and you want
to do well for him."
They did, too, with Killorn saying he tapped Bishop on the arm as he
was taken off the ice and said, 'We've got this."
Rather than collapsing without their reliable goalie, the Lightning
rallied around Vasilevskiy -- who at 21 years and 293 days, is 61
days younger than Penguins goalie Matt Murray, who became the
youngest goalie in 23 years to start Game 1 of a conference finals.
Vasilevskiy played 47:35.
"That's what I'm here for," the former first-round draft pick said.
The Penguins had won 22 of 27 dating to the season, but once again
got no goals from stars Sidney Crosby (8 games) and Evgeni Malkin (6
games) -- and, unlike the previous round against Washington, their
other lines couldn't compensate.
As coach Mike Sullivan said, "We've got to find a way to get back to
our game. ... I thought we generated a fair amount of chances. We've
got to find a way to convert."
Malkin promised the Penguins would be better, saying, "We've got
lots more games (left), and we've got to be better Monday. It's not
(an) emotional (letdown) ... it's tough, it's the playoffs and teams
are playing tough."
The Penguins outshot the Lightning 35-20, yet found the net only
once against disciplined defense.
"I think we did a good job of defending," said center Valtteri
Filppula, who had two assists. "Obviously they have a lot of skill,
they spent a lot of time in our zone but we did a good job.
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The Lightning began to take control only minutes after Bishop went
out and Vasilevskiy went in for only the second time since April 9.
Killorn took defenseman Victor Hedman's long stretch pass and,
skating a full stride ahead of Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta, beat
Murray with a backhander at 18:46 of the first.
Tampa Bay's 31st goal of the playoffs was the 17th produced by the
top line of Killorn, center Tyler Johnson and right wing Nikita
Kucherov. Johnson gave the Lightning a big scare when he limped into
the locker room with an apparent right knee injury late in the
period, but returned in the second period.
Filppula's shot from the left point -- he shot it into traffic,
perhaps hoping for a deflection -- rebounded to Ondrej Palat in the
lower right circle, and he lifted a backhander past Murray at 2:33.
The Lightning kept pressuring, and they made it 3-0 when Jonathan
Drouin finished off a 3-on-1 break by snapping off a shot that
sailed under the crossbar almost before Murray (17 saves) could
react at 18:25 of the second.
The Penguins, who couldn't score during a five-minute power play in
the first, finally scored 40 seconds later when Crosby set up Patric
Hornqvist's power-play goal, his sixth of the playoffs but only
their 10th shot on Vasilevskiy -- the top goalie taken in the 2012
draft, held in Pittsburgh.
"We've got to be better, now that we have a better understanding of
what they do," Crosby said.
NOTES: Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos, out since April 4 following
surgery to remove a blood clot near his collarbone, practiced Friday
but can't be cleared to play until he is taken off a blood thinner.
... Lightning D Anton Stralman (broken left leg, out since March 25)
is skating again, but isn't ready to return. ... Lightning LW J.T.
Brown, out since Game 2 of the first round against Detroit with an
upper body injury, did return. ... The Lightning swept the
three-game season series, but they lost nine straight in Pittsburgh
before winning 4-2 on Feb. 20. ... Lightning C Brian Boyle is
playing in his third successive Eastern Conference finals, two with
Tampa Bay and one with the New York Rangers. ... The Penguins are
playing in their eighth conference finals in 25 seasons, tying them
with the Detroit Red Wings for the most during that span. ... The
Lightning scratched RW Mike Blunden, RW Jonathan Marchessault, RW
Erik Condra, D Matt Taormina and D Luke Witkowski. The Penguins held
out G Jeff Zatkoff, D Derrick Pouliot, D Justin Schultz, C Oskar
Sundqvist and RW Beau Bennett.
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