Ken Hitchcock has been known to rub some his players the wrong way. It seems like goalie Ben Bishop is the latest one to find that out.
Bishop, who was pulled in Tuesday’s 5-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche, was noticeably frustrated with his head coach after the game. The Stars netminder was given the hook after allowing three goals on 17 shots just over 26 minutes into the game (the score was 3-2 for the Avs at that point).
It’s hard to fault Bishop on that third goal, especially because teammate Julius Honka morphed into a turnover machine during that shift. On Colorado’s second goal though, it was Bishop’s turnover behind the net that let to the Avalanche taking their first lead of the hockey game.
You can check out the highlights of last night’s game by clicking here.
Anyhow, after the game, the Stars goalie wasn’t shy about disagreeing with his head coach’s decision.
Ben Bishop: "There was no reason for me to come out. I guess that's the coach's decision... I'm not very happy with the decision." https://t.co/Km4I3yauCA
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) October 25, 2017
Hitchcock made it a point to mention that his decision had nothing to with Bishop. Instead, he was just looking to give his team a spark.
Hitch on pulling Bishop: "It has nothing to do with Bishop, it has to do with, 'Wake up. Let's get playing.' Which is exactly what we did." https://t.co/Kg2CTEQ3qZ
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) October 25, 2017
In the end, Bishop’s replacement, Kari Lehtonen, allowed the next goal to make it 4-2 for Colorado, and the Avs never looked back.
It’ll be interesting to see how these two key figures work things out going forward. Expectations were high for Dallas coming into this season, but they’ve only managed to get off to a mediocre 5-4-0 start.
Joey Alfieri is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @joeyalfieri.