Dallas Stars Pull Ben Bishop In Loss To Colorado Avalanche

Big Ben suffered a horrendous start to Tuesday night’s game against the Colorado Avalanche. As a result, head coach Ken Hitchcock substituted him out for Kari Lehtonen. Was that the right move and will it affect the rest of the Dallas Stars’ trip?

“If you coached in this business worried about conflict, you wouldn’t last five minutes.” That’s what Dallas Stars head coach Ken Hitchcock told the media this morning regarding Tuesday night’s game against Colorado.

This quote was in response to a rather questionable move made by Hitchcock last night. About halfway through last night’s game against the Avalanche, Stars starting goaltender Ben Bishop was yanked in favor of backup Kari Lehtonen.

The substitution was in response to Bishop allowing three goals in the first 26:12 of the game. The first goal was simply scored off of a bad bounce, but the second and third goals were scored due to bad positioning on Bishop’s part.

After the third goal, Hitchcock waited a minute before pulling Bishop and replacing him with Lehtonen. It was Bishop’s first time being pulled from net due to something other than injury since joining the Stars.

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Stars fans had no idea what to think. Bishop was in the midst of his seventh straight start and had reigned supreme up to that point. He was 5-1-0 on the year with a .928 save percentage and 2.09 goals against average. His composure was almost unmatched and he provided an edge in the crease that Stars fans had not witnessed in what seemed like forever.

And then it all came to an abrupt halt. All of the success, composure, and dominance hit a wall. As a result, Hitch made an executive decision and benched him.

Following the game, Bishop made his unhappiness with the decision known to the media. He talked about how he did not agree with the call to pull him and believed he still had a chance to help Dallas win the game after giving up the third goal.

This led Hitchcock to make the statement above earlier today. Though there were conflicting thoughts on the move, he did it in an effort to propel the team.

So who was in the right?

On the one hand, Bishop’s track record seems to lean in favor of his argument. He’s been rock solid in a Dallas Stars uniform and, aside from one or two mistimed plays on the puck, he was still holding the team in the game.

In addition, the team in front of him really wasn’t giving him much support. The defense was staggered and had little fluidity. They were giving up chances and playing a step behind the Colorado offense. It was an ugly night for the blue line overall.

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But that leads us into the other side of the argument. In the postgame interview, Ken Hitchcock cited pulling Bishop as a means to motivate the team. It obviously worked, considering the Stars outplayed the Avs through the final half of the game. Though Dallas couldn’t find the equalizer (primarily due to the stellar play of Semyon Varlamov), they put up a gritty effort that will win them more hockey games than it loses them.

Hitchcock got his message across to the rest of the team by yanking Bishop and extinguishing his hot streak. Their play was improved and gave them a chance to win going forward.

Is there really a right answer to this question? Let’s just agree that both sides have a valid argument.

So how will this affect the Dallas Stars’ road trip going forward? Dallas still has four more games on the road, starting with tomorrow night’s matchup in Edmonton. Tuesday night was the Stars’ first loss since losing to Nashville on October 12. Their four-game win streak is now evaporated and it’s time to hopefully start a new one. Will their goaltending be on board to make that happen?

It should be. This conflict is one small hiccup that happens more often in sports than you might expect. This one is simply getting more coverage because it was made public through media interviews.

Bishop is still slated to get the start tomorrow night against the Oilers just as he was before the road trip began. As a veteran goalie, he knows what it takes to shake off a rusty performance and reset. Expect him to do just that.

And if anything good came out of last night’s game, it was the performance of Kari Lehtonen. That was Lehtonen’s first time on the ice since October 7 against St. Louis. His performance against the Blues was disastrous and led to him getting benched. Once Bishop began catching fire, his chances of starting became more and more slim.

Before the trip, he was slated to start on Friday night against Calgary. After last night’s strong effort, expect that to stay the same as well. It was a good bounce-back performance for Lehtonen, especially in the face of adversity.

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The Dallas Stars now sit at a mediocre record of 5-4-0, but are still a much better team than the stats may say. We’ve seen that in their play. All they need is a quick refocus. Ben Bishop will be essential in helping make that happen. Instead of dwelling on the substitution, he can use it as motivation.

That’s what the professionals do, after all.