The Tampa Bay Lightning got a big scare Friday night when starting goaltender Ben Bishop suffered a serious-looking injury early in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
But no one was more frightened than Bishop himself.
“It was just a scary experience for myself,” Bishop told reporters on Sunday. “You saw the play, fell back, and felt something I’ve never felt before, and just pain right away.”
The Vezina Trophy finalist looked to be in immediate agony as trainers tended to him, and had to be stretchered off the ice with what he has called a “lower leg” injury.
“Your mind just starts racing. You start thinking the worst thing,” he explained. “I’m thinking my leg is broken.
“Your mind just starts spinning, and I was really scared.”
Bishop’s outlook quickly brightened after X-rays and an MRI indicated that there was no structural damage. He was absent from Sunday’s practice, but did skate briefly “to see how it felt.”
“Now it’s just a matter of getting back to where it feels good again,” said Bishop, who has not been officially ruled out for Game 2. “But definitely just one of the scary things that has happened to me … luckily it’s not that bad.
“It’s just a matter of getting to where it feels good enough to think that you can go out there and help the team win.”
