Ben Bishop’s milestone is inevitable – Most wins by a Lightning goalie

The tale of Nikolai Khabibulin’s career was touched on over the weekend, but current shape of things and the name of Ben Bishop wasn’t invoked until you reached the poll following the story of the Bulin Wall.

The career numbers of both goalies in Tampa Bay shows you the immense milestone that Bishop will eclipse as soon as the final horn tonight against the Dallas Stars:

*merger of ties and OTL — Stats via Hockey-Reference.com

Bishop isn’t just on the cusp of taking over the title of most wins with the franchise, if he happens to own the board five more times in his career with the Lightning, he will overtake Khabby’s title of all-time shutouts.

Mind you, the team Khabibulin played with in his tenure in Tampa Bay was not a honed and cohesive group like what Bishop joined; while Bishop’s stint upon acquisition was with a changing roster, the group came together and was playoff-caliber in his first full season it the club. Khabibulin’s first full season after acquisition was hoisted primarily on his back as the team continued to try to find itself.

Some will argue that Bishop pales in comparison to #35 in ability to perform, but that doesn’t change the numbers as they stand. You can question how Khabibulin would fare with the current Lightning team in front of him, which is quite normal (how would a historical player do in current circumstances) but the fact is milestones will be reached and records fall in fewer games played and in much sounder circumstances.

Who has been the best goalie in Tampa Bay Lightning history?