Ben Bishop helped his own cause during the second period of Monday’s Tampa Bay Lightning-Montreal Canadiens match up. The Tampa Bay goaltender had a pair of assists in the middle frame to boost the Lightning to a 5-3 season series sweep of the Atlantic Division-leading Habs.
Bishop’s helpers came less than five minutes apart. First, he sent a long stretch pass from his own zone to the far blue line, connecting with Steve Stamkos, who then threaded the puck Vladislav Namestniko. The Russian broke in on Carey Price and potted his first of the game to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead.
Bishop was then on the tail end of Jonathan Drouin’s powerplay marker as the game approached the five-minute mark of the second period. Bishop now has four assists on the season and six in his NHL career. He had nine in 175 career AHL games, according to hockeyreference.com.
Bishop is the first goalie to register a pair of assists in a single game since Ryan Miller did it as a member of the Sabres in February 2014 and the only goaltender to accomplish the feat in Tampa Bay franchise history.
With files from Canadian Press
