The mysterious Ben Bishop saga continues.
According to multiple reporters on scene, the Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender was not on the ice when the team kicked off practice on Friday.
Bishop, 28, is still listed as day-to-day by the club, but it remains unclear if he will return for Saturday’s Game 5 after the goaltender was scratched in Game 4 with an undisclosed injury.
Instead, Tampa Bay started rookie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who made 17 saves in the Lightnings’s 2-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, while Kristers Gudlevskis served as the backup.
Bishop appeared to be in significant pain throughout his 36-save performance in Tampa Bay’s Game 3 victory on Monday, and has not appeared in the best-of-seven series since.
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He appeared to first suffer the injury in Game 2 of the series when he left the game during a television timeout with less than 12 minutes to play in the third period. He returned for a brief time before leaving that game for good.
There has been speculation Bishop was injured on this run-in with Antoine Vermette.
The Lightning and Blackhawks are tied 2-2 in the best-of-seven series.
