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G Bishop day-to-day with lower body injury; Gudlevskis called up from ECHL [Updated]

In a surprise move, the Lightning announced this morning that goaltender Ben Bishop had sustained a lower body injury in last night's game agains the Florida Panthers. I'm no expert, but I'd guess it came right about here...


I was surprised at the time that he kept playing, but figured that since he did, he must have been okay.

In any event, Bishop is day-to-day. The lightning called up Kristers Gudlevskis from the ECHL Florida Everblades, presumably because he could arrive in time to make practice today. Julien BriseBois has told Syracuse.com's Lindsay Kramer that if it is necessary, the Lightning will call Cedrick Desjardins up from the AHL Syracuse Crunch to back up Anders Lindback and send Gudlevskis to Syracuse to back up Riku Helenius. The Crunch play the Rochester Americans on Saturday. The Everblades don't start their season until October 18.

And although this move is wholly practical rather than some kind of leapfrog in the depth charts, how awesome is it that the Lightning have an ECHL goaltender they trust enough to be the first callup? That says something pretty great about the depth that Lightning General Manager Steve Yzerman has been able to assemble.

We should know more about Bishop's prognosis this afternoon, but all indications from the team are that this isn't going to be a long-term thing.

Gudlevskis was a 5th round draft pick this past June. He had been playing in the MHL (Russia's junior league) in the Dinamo Riga system. From the team:

Gudlevskis, 6-foot-3, 205 pounds, is currently in training camp with the Florida Everyblades of the ECHL. He played in 56 games with HC Riga in Russia's top junior league, the MHL, last season, posting a 27-18 record with a .927 save percentage and a 2.09 goals-against average with three shutouts. He ranked fourth in the MHL for save percentage among goaltenders with more than seven games played and sixth for goals-against average. Gudlevskis' three shutouts were tied for 10th in the league. He also appeared in three playoff games. Gudlevskis also played in two games with the Riga Dinamo of the KHL last season, his debut in Europe's top league, posting a 1-1 record with a .921 save percentage and 2.18 goals-against average.

*****

It's official.

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