Tampa Bay loses Bishop but tops Pittsburgh in Eastern Conference final Game 1

PITTSBURGH -- Tampa Bay's 3-1 victory against Pittsburgh in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Friday may have come at a heavy price.

Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop left the ice on a stretcher in the first period after injuring his left leg. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 stops while filling in and the Lighting took advantage of miscues by Pittsburgh's defense to take away home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven series.

Game 2 is Monday night in Pittsburgh.

Alex Killorn, Ondrej Palat and Jonathan Drouin scored for Tampa Bay, and the Lightning kept Pittsburgh's dynamic offense under wraps for long stretches.

Patric Hornqvist picked up his sixth goal of the playoffs for the Penguins. Rookie goaltender Matt Murray finished with 17 saves, but was put in a tough spot several times because of defensive miscues in front of him.

The Lightning dropped just two games while sprinting

to their second straight appearance in the conference finals despite missing franchise center Steven Stamkos and top defenseman Anton Stralman, both of whom remain out indefinitely with health issues. Now Tampa Bay faces the prospect of journeying forward without Bishop, their 6-foot-7 anchor at the back end who is enjoying the finest season of his career.

One that may be over after a weird sequence just past the midway point in the first period. Bishop was outside the crease during a Pittsburgh power play when he turned around to scramble back into position.

His left leg appeared to wrench awkwardly underneath him and he tumbled to the ice, writhing in pain, before being taken off on a stretcher.

Enter Vasilevskiy. He had plenty of help in front of him as the Lightning did a solid job of keeping Pittsburgh's dynamic attack under wraps.

Tampa Bay struck 18:46 into the first when Killorn slipped behind struggling Pittsburgh defenseman Olli Maatta and fit a shot between Murray's legs.

Palat doubled the lead 2:33 into the second when Valtteri Filppula's slap shot smacked off Murray's pads and -- with no Penguins around -- Palat reached out and slammed home the rebound. Drouin finished off a 3-on-2 by burying a feed from Palat into the open net 18:25 into the second period to give the Lightning complete command.

Facing just their second three-goal deficit of the playoffs, Pittsburgh drew within two on Hornqvist's power-play goal with just 55 seconds left in the second, a shot from the right circle set up by a pretty between-the-legs flick by Sidney Crosby.

This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 11:53 PM with the headline "Tampa Bay loses Bishop but tops Pittsburgh in Eastern Conference final Game 1 ."