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‘Hoping for the best': X-rays came back negative for Bishop, says Cooper

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Lightning goalie Ben Bishop was forced to leave Game 1 against the Penguins early after suffering a severe injury that saw him leave the ice on a stretcher.

The Tampa Bay Lightning seem to have received promising news on starting goalie Ben Bishop, after he was taken off the ice on a stretcher in the first period.

Bishop was in immediate pain, favoring his left knee, after an awkward fall to the ice during a Pittsburgh chance in front of the net in the first period. That forced 21-year-old Andrei Vasilevskiy into action.

But Vasilevskiy was excellent in relief, stopping 25 of 26 shots faced as the Bolts opened the Eastern Conference Final versus the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 3-1 victory to grab the series lead. Afterwards, head coach Jon Cooper provided an update on Bishop, who didn’t return to the game.

“So when we got some test results back and found out that it wasn’t as, I guess -- he’s definitely hurt, but there’s nothing structurally wrong right now -- that was a big relief,” Cooper added.

Despite a frightening situation, as Bishop was taken off the ice, the Bolts never appeared rattled. In fact, they seemed to rally.

They took the lead a few minutes after the Bishop injury on a goal from Alex Killorn and never looked back.

“You could tell he was in a lot of pain. It’s one of those moments where he’s been so great for us, and no one knew what was happening,” Killorn told reporters.

“No one knew what was wrong with him. And for him to get carted off like that, it’s typically pretty serious. But I just went up to him and said, ‘We got this. Keep it up, buddy.’ He just looked at me, and I don’t think he said anything, but just kind of lifted the team up when we could come together and get a goal at the end of the period there.”