Notebook: Bolts heap praise on former goaltender Ben Bishop

Tuesday, former Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender and current Dallas Stars netminder Ben Bishop announced his retirement from the National Hockey League due to a degenerative knee injury that's kept him out of the league since a 2020 Western Conference Second Round series versus Colorado.
Bishop was loaned to Texas of the American Hockey League on a conditioning assignment December 7 and played two days later, giving up eight goals on 34 shots, but knew at that point any chance of continuing to play was over.

Bishop was a cornerstone of Jon Cooper's early seasons as Tampa Bay Lightning head coach and stabilized a goaltending position that had been marred by inconsistency up until that point. Bishop played five seasons with the Lightning, accumulating a record of 131-64-20. His career .921 save percentage and 2.28 goals-against average remain Tampa Bay franchise records.
Bishop was traded to the Lightning on April 3, 2013 from Ottawa in exchange for Cory Conacher - who would later rejoin the franchise - and a 2013 Fourth Round draft pick. He made his first start with the Bolts a day later, stopping all 45 shots he faced in a shutout at Carolina.
The following season, his first full season as Tampa Bay's starter, Bishop went 37-14-7, led the Lightning back to the postseason for the first time in three seasons and finished third in Vezina Trophy voting.
A season later, he backstopped the Lightning all the way to the Stanley Cup Final - the second in franchise history - posting shutouts in Game 7 of a First Round playoff series versus Detroit and again in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final at the New York Rangers, the first and only time the Rangers have lost a Game 7 at Madison Square Garden.
"It seemed like the bigger the moment the better he played," said Lightning forward and former teammate Alex Killorn. "There was a calmness that kind of because of him went through the team because of the way he was playing. You knew you could rely on him. Not only was he playing well but he stole a couple of those games."

Bishop would lead the Lightning back to the Conference Final a year later, but an injury kept him out of all but 12:25 of Game 1 in a series the Bolts would lose in seven games to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
"One of the great goaltenders that we've been privileged to have here in Tampa," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. "I think you look at (Nikolai) Khabibulin and (Andrei Vasilevskiy) and Bish as kind of our three cornerstone goaltenders. Bish was kind of the first one in my era that kind of pushed us over the top to start that contender streak that we've been on for a long time now. He was the one that brought us to the first Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Final. Great teammate. One of the nicest guys that I've played with in my career here. Just an amazing goalie. You saw what he did on the ice. I sent him a message yesterday congratulating him on a great career. Obviously not the way he wanted it to end but one of the top goalies of the decade for sure and someone that was instrumental in allowing our group to have the confidence to be that contender every year.
Cooper said it was the acquisition of Bishop and his emergence as a Vezina-quality netminder that allowed the Lightning franchise to turn the corner into a yearly contender.
"I think our team was ready to take a step, but he was the one who kind of kept us there," the Lightning head coach said. "As we brought all these young guys up and I was new and we had a pretty exciting team to watch, may not have been the most defensively sound team in the league, but he made us look that good. We started winning. We started winning a lot and a big part was because of Ben. He also in the on-ice aspect of things, just his puck playing ability, I don't know if there's three goalies in the world that were better than him. We almost adapted how we broke out of the zone just because of how he played the puck. I think he's had an influence on Vasy. When Vasy first came to us, that was not a strength of his, and now playing the puck is a strength of his. You set goals for yourself and you have mentors and that's what Bish was. We don't get to the Stanley Cup Final in 2015 without him. If I remember two things, it was to go into Madison Square Garden in Game 5 and Game 7, he had 2-0 shutouts. That was not a mistake. He was a hell of a player and sucks to see guys like that go."
Bishop's last season with Tampa Bay in 2016-17, he split time with Andrei Vasilevskiy, who was the future of the position for the franchise. Despite the eventuality Vasilevskiy would take his spot in the lineup, Bishop continued to mentor the young goalie and the two remained good friends. Bishop was eventually traded that season at the deadline to Los Angeles for Erik Cernak, Peter Budaj, a 2017 Seventh Round draft selection, and a 2017 conditional pick, handing the reigns over to Vasilevskiy completely.
"Probably one of the best trades in franchise history if you want to look back at how we got him on the way in and out," Stamkos said. "It was a win-win for everyone in that regard. He was outstanding and just wish him and his family all the best."
LIGHTNING UNFAZED BY INJURIES: When the Tampa Bay Lightning woke up Wednesday morning, they saw themselves in a tie with Florida for first place in the Atlantic Division standings by virtue of point percentage.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have 42 points compared to the Lightning and Panthers' 40 points but have also played two more games.
The fact the Lightning continue to win even with major injuries to key contributors is remarkable. Nikita Kucherov hasn't played since the third game of the season. Brayden Point has missed the last 12 games. Erik Cernak sat eight games with an upper-body injury in November, returned for three games and is now sidelined again until after Christmas with a lower-body injury.
Yet, the Lightning remain unfazed.
On Tuesday, they collected their sixth win in their last seven games by defeating the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 in overtime. The Bolts bring a five-game home win streak into Thursday's home contest versus the Ottawa Senators.

"It's amazing," Stamkos said. "Just proves again the depth that we have on this team and the guys' ability to step up and our goaltender's playing great. It's just been a combination of everyone having to do their part and some. We've just quietly gone about our business, and it's kind of been nice."
Kucherov practiced for a second-straight day on Wednesday but is limited in his movement. Cooper said he's on schedule for where he should be yet is still a few weeks away from returning.
Point continues to skate in a red no-contact jersey. It would be a "present" for the team if he could play before Christmas, but he should be able to return soon after the holiday break.
Cernak remains week-to-week and won't be back anytime soon according to Cooper.
But the Lightning continue to roll. Rookies have stepped into the lineup and shown consistency. Veterans have taken on larger roles and more minutes. And everybody has done their part to help offset the major losses.
"We have players that can play up and down the lineup," Stamkos said. "When we are fully healthy, maybe they're not playing as many minutes as they possibly could just because of the depth and the talent that we have on this team. So when certain guys are out, especially guys that play a lot of minutes, it just gives other guys opportunities to go in and show what they can do and we've done that. I think you've seen the maturity of some of the younger guys on our team as the season's gone along and just even some of the veterans. Look at Belly's line with Patty and Pairs last night as an example, they're playing nearly 20 minutes. They still have that, but when our lineup's full, they don't have to play that much but they're still totally capable of doing that. So that just shows the depth of our team.
"I'm just proud of the group with what we've been able to do so far under the circumstances."
COVID CONCERNS LOOM LARGE: The National Hockey League, as well as all major professional sports leagues in North America, are facing a growing concern with the rising number of Covid cases.
Just on Wednesday, Boston's Patrice Bergeron was placed in COVID-19 protocol, joining teammates Brad Marchand and Craig Smith. Calgary had a fourth game postponed due to a Covid outbreak, the Flames placing seven more players in protocol Wednesday, bringing their total count to 16 players.
The Nashville Predators are also dealing with a Covid outbreak, placing six players in protocol. Carolina also has six players in protocol, and the Hurricanes game against Minnesota on Tuesday was postponed.
The Lightning haven't had an outbreak or any games postponed yet this season, but, eventually, the way things are trending, they'll be affected soon enough.

"It's tough right because we get vaccinated and you get boosters and you do all the things that you're trying to do to keep everyone safe and then you still have those outbreaks," Stamkos said. "I think the good thing is the vaccines are working. I've talked to a lot of guys that have had it who are either completely asymptomatic or very minor flu-like symptoms. That's a positive. I think in terms of it's certainly for us it's tough to see that because we've tried to do everything that we can to keep things moving along here. I don't know where it ends to be honest. At some point, you have these protocols if you're vaccinated, if you're boostered, if you're this or that and nothing seems to be working. So I don't know if we need to change some things up in the amount of testing or things of that nature. It's just we can't keep going down this road where we're trying to do everything we can and abiding by the guidelines that the league puts and then now we're in situations like this. It's happening all over. You look at all the leagues for whatever reason right now, I don't know if it's the new variant or what, but the good thing is no one's getting sick. Things are working in that regard. It's just, maybe it's time to finesse some things to make sure we can keep chugging along because it's been a long road in terms of how this Covid has played out."
There are reports the NHL is going to implement enhanced protocols through January 7, protocols which include daily testing, mandatory masks in team facilities and limitations on indoor dining while on the road. These measures are all aimed at stopping the spread that seems to be rising rapidly around not just the NHL but in all sports leagues as well as communities at large.
It's a setback to be sure, however. After two of the strangest seasons in NHL history, this season was finally starting to see some return to normalcy.
Now it appears we're taking steps backward to where we came from.
"I don't know what else you can do," Cooper said. "I can't sit here and say how many people have had Covid, but I know it's a lot. I think we were one of the organizations that was hit first way back when. The mandate was to get everybody vaccinated for this reason, and everybody in the league got vaccinated. So I don't know what extra step can be taken. I understand that it's still a prevalent virus, but we've done everything we possibly can. I don't know much more you can do. We'll see what happens."