Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Ben Bishop was injured in the Stanley Cup Final, a fact that should have been obvious to anybody that watched him play against the Chicago Blackhawks. This should have been obvious even though the Lightning refused to say what exactly was wrong with him, sometimes in an hilariously misleading manner.
As it turns out, Bishop wasn't just injured, he was really injured.
Following the Lightning's 2-0 loss to the Blackhawks in Game 6 on Monday night, Bishop finally came clean with what was bothering him when he admitted to the media that he was playing through a torn groin.
Let's repeat that: A. Torn. Groin.
A torn groin on its own sounds like an extremely painful thing to experience. Trying to play goalie at the NHL level in the Stanley Cup playoffs (or at any level, in any game) sounds just awful.
No wonder he had a difficult time standing up at times.
Bishop said he suffered the injury while stopping a Brad Richards shot during the second period Game 2 of the series. It's not an injury that will require surgery, according to Bishop.
Perhaps the most amazing thing is the fact that he actually played really well in the series, never allowing more than two goals in the three games he played following the injury.
Bishop had to leave Game 2 on two different occasions and was replaced by backup Andrei Vasilevskiy, who ended up getting credit for the victory. Vasilevskiy also started Game 4 of the series, then Bishop returned for Games 5 and 6.
