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Bishop having fun in Montreal pressure cooker

 
Lightning goalie Ben Bishop makes one of his 43 saves from the ice during the first overtime against the Canadiens on Friday.
Lightning goalie Ben Bishop makes one of his 43 saves from the ice during the first overtime against the Canadiens on Friday.
Published May 3, 2015

MONTREAL — G Ben Bishop could have easily caved Friday night.

Bishop had given up a potentially haunting goal, LW Max Pacioretty's wrist shot popping out of his glove and trickling into the net to tie the Canadiens with the Lightning at 1 with five minutes left in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series. The Canadiens' fans mercilessly mocked the Lightning goaltender, chanting "BISH-OP!" and giving him Bronx cheers for every easy save.

But Bishop took it in stride.

"Playing in college, it's like that every road game," said Bishop, a former University of Maine star. "I think it's a lot of fun."

Just as Bishop wasn't rattled after giving up an own-goal in a 3-2 Game 4 overtime victory over the Red Wings in the first round, he bounced back, finishing with 43 saves in a 2-1 double overtime victory.

"It didn't really bother me too much," Bishop said. "I felt like I was playing well. Obviously, that (Pacioretty goal) is one you'd like to have back. I'd like to save it, but at the same time, I wasn't too worried about it after that."

Bishop improved to 11-2-1 against the Canadiens in his career. He is 6-0 this season, all in showdowns with league MVP finalist G Carey Price.

Bishop made a highlight-reel stop Friday, a sprawling glove save on LW Tomas Plekanec on a shorthanded two-on-one in the second. Coach Jon Cooper said it was an "unreal" save, a "game-changer," bringing the two-pad stack back into style.

"A pretty lucky save, to be honest," Bishop said. "I'll probably hear it from (goalie coach Frantz Jean) later."

Bishop heard something else later in the game, after a David Desharnais shot rattled off his mask. "

"There was as big ring in my ear," he said. "At that time of the game, that's not what you want."

But it didn't stop him,

JOHNNY BE GOOD? C Tyler Johnson, one of the postseason's biggest stars with seven goals, got banged up in the third period and went to the locker room for a few minutes before returning. But Johnson didn't take faceoffs late in the game. He was coy about the injury postgame, declining to say whether it was sparked by a Brendan Gallagher crosscheck or getting hit with a puck. "I don't know," he said, smiling.

When asked about Johnson on Saturday, Cooper had little update: "My talk to 'Johnny' will happen after this (media session)," he said. "My nose doesn't have to grow then."

MOVING ON: Though Canadiens coach Michel Therrien was frustrated Friday after an offsides call was missed before RW Nikita Kucherov's winner, he said Saturday that "we've moved on."

Replays showed C Valtteri Filppula was offside on the play, but Kucherov's goal didn't happen until more than 10 seconds later. Cooper said he has been on both sides of those calls at the Bell Centre.

"It's funny how it turns out," he said. "Had we lost last game, what would all the talk be about? The disallowed goal (by Kucherov in the first overtime). We end up winning the game and all of the talk is about a perceived offsides. It's sports, where humans are involved.

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"All I know is it's out of our hands and we're up 1-0. And we're not giving that one back."