No Ben Bishop, no problem for the Lightning Friday night at Consol Energy Center.

Bishop, Tampa Bay's Vezina Trophy finalist, had to be taken off on a stretcher in the Lightning's 3-1 win against the Penguins in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final.

In his absence, Andrei Vasilevskiy, 21, stepped in to make 25 saves and helped give his team a 1-0 series lead on the road.

"It's kind of been the mantra," said Lightning winger J.T. Brown, who himself returned Friday from injury.

"We've had guys go down so far in these playoffs. We wanted to win this game for him and we wanted to keep going. Obviously Vasy's coming in in a tough situation, so we wanted to play our best in front of him."

Bishop left in the first with a leg injury at 12:25 of the opening period. He appeared to hurt his left leg moving across the crease on a scramble in front of the net.

He didn't appear to make contact with any other players on the play, but moved awkwardly across the front of his goal. Lightning trainers and medical staff tended to Bishop before calling for a stretcher to remove him.

"I have to take out my glove and helmet, just play in the game," Vasilevskiy said. "That's a bad moment, for sure. But that happens, it's playoffs. Anybody can get hurt."

Lightning coach Jon Cooper said Bishop's X-rays showed no breaks, but he did not provide any prognosis for the rest of the series.

"We're hoping for the best," Cooper said.

Vasilevskiy played in 24 games for the Lightning this season, with a 2.76 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage.

In Bishop's absence, Vasilevskiy stepped in and performed well enough to get a win. He gave up a power-play goal to Patric Hornqvist in the second, but that was the only puck that got past him.

"My first two periods, I [didn't feel] good," Vasilevskiy said. "I was cold, and it was tough mentally. We scored three goals, so I got some confidence. In the third period, I felt pretty good."

Vasilevskiy played in two games in the Stanley Cup final a year ago, but admitted that feels like a long time ago. Still, his teammates and coaches had plenty of faith in him.

"No one is sitting on our bench thinking 'Oh we're nervous Vasilevskiy going in,'" Cooper said.

That's not to say Bishop isn't a loss. He played 61 games for the Lightning in the regular season, and led the NHL with a 2.06 goals-against average. He had started all 11 of the team's playoff games, with a 1.89 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage in the postseason.

If he is unable to play Monday night in Game 2, Vasilevskiy said he's ready.

"For sure, that's my dream right there," he said. "Bishop, it's a huge loss for us, but I will do everything while I can."