Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop started in net for Game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals on Saturday night, a 2-1 Tampa Bay loss.
Bishop did not play in Game 4 against the Chicago Blackhawks due to an undisclosed injury. He was replaced by Andrei Vasilevskiy, making his first NHL postseason start. The 20-year-old Russian made 17 saves in the 2-1 loss, which knotted the finals at two games apiece.
Vasilevskiy became the fourth-youngest goalie to start a Stanley Cup finals game in NHL history and the youngest since 20-year-old Patrick Roy in 1986.
Vasilevskiy was on the ice as Bishop's backup for Game 5.
Bishop had said Friday that he would make a decision about his status for Game 5 after participating in the team's Saturday morning skate at Amalie Arena.
He would not say then which way he was leaning, but that there was "progress being made."
"When you get this far, you don't want to hurt the team at all," Bishop said after the morning skate. "It's been a long season. You got this far, and you don't want to be holding back the team, I guess to say. It's an extremely tough decision to make."
Bishop faced shots for about 10 minutes at Amalie Arena in the pregame skate, appearing to test his mobility and post-to-post movement.
Bishop exited the Lightning's Game 2 win on two separate occasions in the final minutes, and then battled through Tampa Bay's 3-2 win in Game 3 despite appearing noticeably injured.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
