Defining play: Ben Bishop’s OT gamble pays off

There isn’t much room for indecisiveness as a goalie.

If you are going to gamble, you have to go for it. If you get hesitant and get caught in no man’s land, you’re screwed.

Ben Bishop made that decision in overtime of the Dallas Stars 3-2 shootout win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday evening.

When he saw that Blackhawks center Nick Schmaltz didn’t have complete control of the puck and had his head down, Bishop made the decision to go for it and charged out. He slid toward the puck and by the time Schmaltz picked his head up all he could do was push a weak backhand shot into Bishop’s gut around the face-off dot.

Ben Bishop with the brilliant diving save in OT. #GoStars pic.twitter.com/EGj9n7CpX1

— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) December 3, 2017

If Bishop hesitated or came out a second too late, Schmaltz likely scores the game-winning goal by flipping the puck up and over a sprawling goalie.

It wasn’t officially counted as a save by NHL statiticians, but it was the save of the night and laid the groundwork for Dallas victory in the shootout (even though I’m still pushing for an additional five minutes of overtime).

That save (or non-save) was the highlight of a 32-save night for the goalie, who also stopped both Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews in the shootout. He also saved himself some additional work in the victory, defusing a couple chances with his stick before they could turn into shots.

There were three separate instances on Saturday where Bishop used his stick to break up a pass through the crease, including a reaching block on a poke check with 2:15 remaining in regulation to stop a pass from Schmaltz to Artem Anisimov loading up for a one-timer. That likely would have been Anisimov’s 13th goal of the season and the game-winning tally.

Bishop is going to get the night off on Sunday against the Colorado Avalanche, Kari Lehtonen is in net, but he’ll likely be back in on Tuesday against the Nashville Predators with a chance to extend his four-game win streak.