Red Wings Rally Behind Lyon for Comeback Victory

After losing their starting goaltender and falling behind early, the Detroit Red Wings fought through sloppy ice conditions and rallied to win 5–1 over the Utah Hockey Club in Salt Lake City.

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After Petr Mrazek suffered an apparent lower body injury less than two minutes into the game, Alex Lyon had to enter the game, his first live action since Mar. 6.  Lyon conceded a goal on the first shot he faced (a Dylan Guenther power play one timer), then settled in to stop the next 16 he saw as the team in front of him netted five unanswered.

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"I'm just staying ready every day, so when you stay ready, you don't really have to get ready, so that's my mindset," quipped Lyon to reporters after the game.  Asked about his mentality, Lyon added, "Just fight.  I think that's the mentality that we have as a team right now: Just gotta fight and see what happens.  Scratch and claw and just see where it takes us."

Only 1:22 after Guenther's opener, Elmer Soderblom tied the game on a rush chance set up by a burst of speed from Vladimir Tarasenko.  The goal ensured that Detroit didn't trail long.

In the second, Marco Kasper made it 2–1 Red Wings by taking advantage of a strange carom off the end-boards before whacking the puck off the skate of a Utah defender and in.  Kasper's goal—just 1:34 into the second—came on just Detroit's third shot of the night, but it was enough to put the Red Wings in front with a lead they would only build onto from there.

To provide insurance in the third, Austin Watson scored another unique goal, deflecting a Simon Edvinsson point shot from the top of the circle.  Watson's tip sent the puck arcing up over the shoulder of Utah goaltender Karel Vejmelka.  Detroit eventually followed that up with an empty netter from Alex DeBrincat, then one last insurance tally from Tyler Motte (with Vejmelka) back in the net.

The Red Wings finished the night with just 14 shots yet managed to put up five goals anyway.  After a number of recent performances in which they flooded an opponent with shots but struggled to convert (most notably in Ottawa earlier this month, when Detroit mustered 49 shots and scored just once on Linus Ullmark), Monday's offensive opportunism was a welcome change of pace.

After the game, McLellan suggested that "rough" ice conditions—"slushy, snowy, puck bouncing all over the place"—contributed to the Red Wings' challenges in getting pucks to the net, but in the end, Detroit overcame the injury to Mrazek and the ice, fighting its way to a sorely needed win.

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