Bishop's surprise return short-lived in Stars' rough Game 5 defeat

To quote Happy Gilmore, "Talk about your all-time backfires."
The hockey-playing professional golfer was trying to make a romantic move on tour PR director Virginia Venit in the movie of the same name, so he came up with a can't miss plan in which he asked Venit to shoot a puck in from a long distance, believing she couldn't do it. When Venit slid the puck over a stretch of the ice into the goal, Gilmore was incredulous and offered up the well-known line.
Stars interim coach Rick Bowness might have felt the same way Monday.

Bowness started veteran goalie Ben Bishop for the first time since Aug. 13. The Vezina Trophy finalist from last season allowed four goals on 19 shots and exited 13:43 into the game en route to a 6-3 defeat.
It was a huge deflating moment for the Stars and a huge boost for the Avalanche, who now trail the best-of-seven series 3-2 heading into Game 6 Wednesday in the Edmonton bubble. Bowness said he and Bishop discussed the possibility of a return to play Monday afternoon and the coaching staff decided that on the second night of a back-to-back, starting Bishop was the best decision.
"He did skate yesterday and he had a couple of sharp practices," Bowness said of Bishop, who has been on the ice but has not served as a backup goalie. "We're making decision on the information that we have that you do not have. And the best decision was to go with Bish. He felt good, he was ready to go."
Bishop, who declined to reveal his injury, said he was prepared to play.

"I felt good," Bishop said. "It was just unfortunate how the results were, but I felt good."
The 33-year-old is 29-20 in 51 playoff appearances with a 2.20 goals against average and a .926 save percentage, so he clearly has a strong resume. He said he knew what to expect from a hungry Colorado team that was facing elimination.
"I had an opportunity to close the door," he said. "We know they're going to have a push, obviously their season is on the line. I'll take the blame. I have to be better and come up with a save there. I know what the circumstance are, I've been in this situation before. You know they're going to throw everything at you, and you've got to be ready to go."
The loss could have come no matter what. After all, Colorado outshot the Stars 23-5 in the first period. Bowness said the real problem was the team wasn't ready to play, and they put Bishop in a difficult spot.
"If you're pointing fingers at Ben Bishop, you're pointing fingers in the wrong direction," Bowness said. "None of us was ready to go tonight, so your first finger should be pointed at me and then work your way down."
Stars forward Andrew Cogliano agreed, saying Bishop's teammates let him down.
"Listen, I think Bish is the best goalie in the league when he's playing at the top of his game, and we have full confidence in him," Cogliano said. "Our first 10 minutes were an absolute joke. Let's be honest, we were atrocious in the first 10 minutes. This has nothing to do with our goalies, we're wasting our time if we're talking about our goalies. We have the luxury of having these two. When Bish is in the net, we have full confidence in him, and we let him down."

Bowness said the entire team wasn't ready, and that the blame falls to everyone in the room, including the coaching staff.
"We weren't ready to play, we weren't ready to compete. Nobody was ready," Bowness said. "To defend against that team, it takes hard work, and we got outworked. There's no sugar coating it."
Because the NHL is trying to protect its players from potential disclosure of medical information, it has come up with the phrase "unfit to play" for any ailment. Because of that, we really don't know what has been wrong with Bishop, who has not even dressed as a backup goalie since beating Calgary, 5-4, in Game 2 of that first-round series.
However, he clearly has had to battle to get back in, and he clearly had rust in his game. Bowness said that's a tough judgment to make when you consider how the Stars played.
"It looked like it was unfair what was going on in front of him," Bowness said. "Did he look fine? Yeah, he looked sharp. On some of those goals, we just let guys walk in and tap it in."
The Stars' top line was trying to make a play in the offensive zone early in the game, and Colorado did a great job of counter-attacking. Logan O'Conner raced up the right wing and passed across the ice to Pierre-Edourd Bellemare, who one-timed in his second goal of the playoffs. It was a pretty play, and wasn't Bishop's fault, but it opened the door for doubt.
Bishop coughed up a juicy rebound for goal No. 2, and then was beat by an uncovered Nathan MacKinnon in the slot to make it 3-0. Bishop then allowed another rebound in a goal-mouth scramble, and it was 4-0 and he was pulled for Anton Khudobin.

Khudobin allowed a goal on the first shot he faced, and Colorado had a 5-0 lead at the 14:27 mark of the first period.
Khudobin played the final 42 minutes and allowed two goals on 22 shots. He had already played in eight straight games, including Sunday's 5-4 win, and Bowness said he felt Khudobin needed a day off. However, when the veteran back-up goalie came in and played well, the coach said he decided to let him finish the game.
"Give Dobby credit," Bowness said when asked if he thought about getting Bishop back into the game to get more reps. "We threw him into a tough situation, the team was getting bombarded and he battled so hard. Would we have liked to give him a little more time? But when Dobby was in and he was battling like that, let him go."
Bowness wouldn't say who would get the start in Game 6 Wednesday, but he did say the team was trying to get Khudobin a day off, so you can guess that the Stars will go back to Khudobin as the starter with Bishop on the bench. And that's a pretty good place to be.
After Happy Gilmore issued his line about backfires, he still won the girl and the tour championship and got his grandma's house back, so these things have a way of working out.
At least in the movies, they do.
"We're a good hockey club," Bowness said. "I believe in this hockey club, and I believe we're going to win this series."

Game 6: Stars vs. Avalanche (Dallas leads 3-2)

Wednesday, 7 p.m. CT
Where:Rogers Place, Edmonton
TV: NBCSN
Radio:The Ticket 96.7-FM, 1310-AM
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.