Ben Bishop was pulled in the second period after allowing three goals on 17 shots in a 5-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche.
It was the second time Bishop hasn’t finished a start this season, and the first time he was pulled based off performance.
Bishop wasn’t very happy with the decision after the game.
“I’m not very happy with the decision,” Bishop said. “There is still a lot hockey left and it’s a 3-2 game. And I felt good. I’m not very happy with the decision.”
“There is a lot of fight in this locker room the game wasn’t over,” Bishop added. “I don’t know what the reason was. I’m fully confident we’ll come back when we’re losing 3-2 on the road. But obviously Kari came in and he did a great job, he played well and gave our team a chance to win.”
Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said it was a change made to motivate the entire team.
“It was time to make a change, we were slow and dozy across the board,” Hitchcock said. “Needed a wake-up call, so we got it.”
“It has nothing to do with Ben Bishop,” Hitchcock added. “It has to do with wake up, let’s get playing. Which is exactly what we did. It has nothing to do with Ben, and I’ll do the same thing with any other goaltender. If I think it’s going to help the team and change their mindset, I’ll have to do whatever it takes.”
While Hitchcock said it wasn’t a decision based on Bishop, the goalie did have one of his roughest games of the season.
Bishop went for an aggressive poke check on the first goal and lost on the gamble. On the second goal he lost the puck behind the net, a rarity for the normally smooth puck-handling goalie.
The third goal came after a horrendous turnover by Julius Honka, but Bishop was caught swimming in his crease and didn’t move well with the play — another rarity with his recent performances.
Kari Lehtonen entered the game and played well in relief as he stopped 14 of 15 shots. The one goal allowed was a bit frustrating with the timing, and Lehtonen officially was credited with the loss, the Finnish goal actually played well in a tough situation.
Postgame thoughts
Johns injured
Stephen Johns left the game with an upper-body injury and will be re-evaluated on Wednesday morning.
Johns was hit by Matt Duchene and his head made contact with the glass. According to an update from Stars PR during the game he was dealing with concussion symptoms.
With Johns injury Jamie Oleksiak will likely be back in the lineup on Thursday against the Edmonton Oilers.
Ritchie finally scores
Brett Ritchie is a self-described streaky goal scorer, so him finally finding the back of the net was a positive sign.
Ritchie scored his goal while playing on the top line with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. Dallas juggled the lines to try and spread the offense around, and the Stars are still desperately looking for secondary scoring.
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