It was supposed to be his coronation.
It was supposed to be his ascension.
For Tampa Bay’s Ben Bishop, this was the night that a lot of attention was supposed to arrive. He was supposed to pass Nikolai Khabibulin as the team’s all-time winningest goaltender. He was supposed to wave to the fans and smile for the cameras.
Instead, he ended the night explainig his shortcomings in a 5-3 loss to the Dallas Stars. A soft fifth goal, and a penalty kill that continued to be troublesome, have Bishop back on his heels, trying to explain the eight goals he has surrendered in the past two games.
“Our guys did a good job of battling,” Bishop said. “They needed a big save by me. I wasn’t able to do it tonight. It was one of those nights. It starts with me. The penalty kill hasn’t gone well, and the goaltender has to be the best penalty killer. And I haven’t done that.
“Tonight. I think it came down to me. I’m not going to sit and have a pity party for me, but I need to do better.”
The Lightning power play is one of the worst in the NHL. It has now given up seven goals in 15-shorthanded situations, which seems particularly troublesome when you consider that most of the players were part of the league’s seventh-best penalty kill a year ago.
We have to be better on special teams,” said coach Jon Cooper. “Does the power play have to score every single time? No they don’t. We’ve got to keep the momentum going, get some looks. If we’re 1-4 or 1-5 in a game, that’s okay. We’re giving up penalty-kill goals at an alarming rate. It’s hard to win games when you do that.”
Steven Stamkos scored two goals for the Bolts, but the two power plays lifted Dallas to a 4-1 advantage. Tampa Bay closed to within 4-3, but the gentle fifth goal closed things out.
Tampa Bay plays at home Saturday night against Buffalo.
