I actually agree with both Ben Bishop and Ken Hitchcock after the goalie aired his frustrations to the media after the Dallas Stars 5-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.
Hitchcock has every right to pull the goalie, and it’s a move that provided a spark for the team. While it may be frustrating for the goalie, it’s a change that sends a message to the rest of the team and can turn the tide of game. If the Stars were able to finish a chance or two in the third period, pulling the goalie becomes a turning point that Dallas rallied around and won the game.
Bishop also has every right to be frustrated. As he said, there was still lots of time in the game for a comeback, and he thought he was playing well enough. To Bishop’s credit, he’s shown time and time again that he can bounce back from a rough goal against and put mistakes behind him.
Communication is where it all fell apart and caused a mini postgame fiasco.
Bishop said after the game that he never got an explanation for why he got pulled. While he may not have liked the decision, the coaching staff could have taken two minutes during the second intermission to explain why they made the change.
While Bishop may still have shown frustration with being pulled in a post-game media scrum, he would have understood where the coach was coming from and likely wouldn’t have been guessing that it was a coach’s decision by the time he met with reporters.
When Hitchcock was asked about it he said he has to do whatever it takes to get his team going, and it didn’t matter who was in goal — and that’s a sentiment I agree with. But he also has to manage the relationship with his starting goalie, and taking two minutes to address that issue sometime between the six-minute mark of the second period and post-game locker room availability would have gone a long way.
Housekeeping Notes
— The mailbag comes out on Friday, keep an eye out on Twitter and Reddit later today for a chance to submit your questions.
— We are tentatively planning on recording the podcast, Ryan Satkowiak will be back on as a co-host.
Catch-up links
The fourth line continues to provide a spark, and that’s even more important on a lengthy road trip
Potsie says
Bishop was a precious crying diva in Ottawa and TB as well. Hitch is the boss and can do of whatever he wants. For
60 millions dollars, or whatever we overpaid for a 34 yo goalie who basically sucked last season. Bishop should
toughen up and not cry to the press like a whiny little girl every time he doesn’t agree with his boss who, by the way
has a 100 times better career track record as a winner than he does.