Tampa Bay Lightning

TAMPA BAY – The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed goaltender Ben Bishop to a two-year contract extension today, vice president and general manager Steve Yzerman announced.

Bishop, 6-foot-7, 214 pounds, has played in six games with the Lightning after being acquired from the Ottawa Senators at the April 3 trade deadline. He has posted a 2-3-0 record with a .916 save percentage and a 3.21 goals-against average. Bishop made his Bolts debut on April 4 at Carolina, stopping all 45 shots he faced for a shutout. He was the second goalie in franchise history to post a shutout in his Lightning debut (Dwayne Roloson, January 4, 2011) and tied the franchise record for most saves in a shutout (Daren Puppa, November 27, 1995). He has played in a total of 19 games this season with Tampa Bay and Ottawa, recording a 10-8-0 record with a .920 save percentage, 2.68 goals-against average and two shutouts.

Feel the Nichushkin-mentum.

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Mathieu Garon allowed 3 goals on 22 shots for the loss including his obligatory 1 that he'd want back.

First Period
04:09 BUF Ennis (10), (Vanek, Ehrhoff)(PP)

Second Period
08:00 BUF Hecht (4), (Gerbe)
12:37 BUF Porter (4), (Flynn, Ott)
13:30 TB Pouliot (8), (Brewer, Lecavalier)

Third Period
NO SCORING

The Lightning outshot Buffalo 33-22 with most of that coming once they spotted the Sabres the 3 goal lead. I have no idea what sort of weird sports psychology issue makes a team only start playing harder once they fall behind big. It's bizarre. That's something for Jon Cooper to sort out in the offseason. In the meantime, the Lightning will be looking at one of the big three draft prospects or possibly Traktor Chelyabinsk power forward Valery Nichushkin in their future.

Alex Killorn had 3 shots in 20:26.

Richard Panik was -2 with 2 shots and 1 hit. The biggest challenge for a young player isn't proving you can be brilliant as Panik was last night. The biggest challenge is proving you can do it consistently, and Panik was a non-factor tonight.

Radko Gudas was -1 with 5 hits and 2 blocked shots in 17:40.

Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.

Moral victory?

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Ben Bishop allowed 3 goals on 20 shots before being pulled after the first period. Mathieu Garon allowed 3 on 18 the rest of the way for the old back door loss.

First Period
13:45 WSH Brouwer (16), (Ribiero, Ovechkin)(PP)
18:45 WSH Hillen (2), (Beagle, Oleksy)
19:22 WSH Ovechkin (27), (Backstrom)

Second Period
02:41 WSH Chimera (2), (Perrault, Oleksy)
03:55 TB Panik (3), (Pyatt, Purcell)
05:26 WSH Fehr (8), (Perreault)
18:47 TB St. Louis (10), (Stamkos, Pouliot)

Third Period
04:23 TB Panik (4), (Gudas, Aulie)
08:17 TB St. Louis (11), (Hedman, Pyatt)
17:25 TB Purcell (11), (Pyatt, Panik)

Overtime
02:59 WSH Green (10), (Ribiero, Fehr)(PP)

Richard Panik was the game's third star.

I expected the Lightning to get routed tonight. That's why I spent most of it watching Peca in the Quinnipiac game. And, it pretty much went to plan until all of a sudden the Lightning decided not to lay down. Whatever Jon Cooper said to them, they had the hearts of lions in the Third Period and to start Overtime. It's a shame one bad defensive play (Matt Carle) got them in the box and they lose on a 4-on-3 situation. Still, you have to like the show of character.

Alex Killorn was -1 with 4 shots and 1 hit in 20:14.

Panik went insane with 2 goals, 1 assist, and a +4 rating. 4 shots and 4 hits too in 15:32. He's got this kind of ability, folks. He's a beast when it comes together.

Radko Gudas had a helper, 1 shot, and 4 hits in 17:14.

Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have reassigned forwards Brett Connolly and Tyler Johnson to the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League, vice president and general manager Steve Yzerman announced today.

Connolly, 20, has skated in five games with the Lightning this season, tallying one goal on 10 shots. He scored his lone goal of the season while on the power play last night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound forward has also appeared in 67 games with the Crunch, registering 27 goals and 57 points to go along with a plus-15 rating and 51 penalty minutes. Connolly ranks second on Syracuse for goals and points and is third for assists with 30. The Campbell River, British Columbia native was originally drafted by the Lightning in the first round, sixth overall, in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

Johnson, 22, has played in 14 games with the Lightning this season, collecting three goals and six points to go along with a plus-3 rating and four penalty minutes. The 5-foot-9, 182-pound forward made his NHL debut on March 14 against the New York Islanders and recorded his first career NHL goal and assist on March 16 versus Carolina. Johnson ranks second among all NHL rookies in faceoff percentage at 59.5% (minimum 50 taken). The Spokane, Washington native has also appeared in 59 games with the Crunch, posting 32 goals and 58 points with a plus-28 rating. He ranks first on Syracuse in goals and points and has a team-high 11 power play goals.

Like Lou Rawls said, "Love is a hurtin' thing."

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Ben Bishop allowed 6 goals on 45 shots for the loss. Guessing he's out of gas after spending much of the year in a deep goaltending rotation.

First Period
04:07 PIT Jokinen (8), (Morrow, Dupuis)
06:02 PIT Dupuis (20), (Kennedy, Niskanen)(PP)
16:00 TB Purcell (9), (Stamkos, Salo)(PP)

Second Period
01:48 PIT Kunitz (21), (Iginla, Letang)(PP)
05:46 TB Connolly (1), (Panik, Killorn)

Third Period
01:24 PIT Malkin (8), (unassisted)
04:45 PIT Jokinen (9), (Murray, Dupuis)
16:40 PIT Glass (1), (Jokinen, Iginla)(PP)
19:42 TB Purcell (10), (St. Louis, Carle)(PP)

I actually thought the Lightning set themselves up well to pull the upset heading into the Third Period, but after Bishop allowed the soft goal to Malkin the wheels started to come off. It's time to face facts, Steve Yzerman pulled the trigger on Boucher about 1 month too late to give Cooper the time he needed to turn this season around. The good news is that most, not all, but most of the Syracuse kids played decent games against the Pittsburgh machine tonight. That bodes well for next season.

Mark Barberio was -1 with 1 blocked shot in 16:47. I wish he didn't play so tentative. Would've loved for him to score and then punch Pierre McGuire in the mush whilst explaining, "Learn to pronounce my name baldy." He was named a Second Team AHL All-Star today.

Alex Killorn had a helper but was -2 with 1 shot and 2 hits in 17:31. He's been logging a ton of ice time lately and I wonder if he's hitting a bit of a rookie wall.

Tyler Johnson was -1 with 1 shot and 1 hit in 12:29. Looked darned good with the puck on his stick. Looked fast and dangerous. He was also named a First Team AHL All-Star today.

Richard Panik had a helper and was -1 with 3 hits in 11:36. He had the primary helper on Connolly's beautiful tic-tac-toe goal. Connolly was named a Second Team AHL All-Star today, by the way.

Radko Gudas was -1 with 16 penalty minutes, 3 shots, 5 hits, and 1 blocked shot in 15:43. He's getting caught up ice too much. I like the effort level and toughness, but he needs to clean up some of his decision making.

Pierre-Cedric Labrie had 2 penalty minutes, 1 shot, and 1 hit in 9:31.

Time to start sending the kids back to Syracuse for the playoffs. With the roster they have right now, the Crunch are in danger of a first round upset. It's too valuable a developmental opportunity and the NHL season is lost. Put Pouliot and Pyatt back in and send a couple key players down. It's the shrewd thing to do.

Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.