Snapping 10-start Losing Streak, Alex Lyon Comes up Clutch Against Lightning
Against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Alex Lyon saved a bevy of grade-A scoring chances to snap a personal 10-start losing streak. The win keeps the Red Wings in the playoff race, too.
Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports - Snapping 10-start Losing Streak, Alex Lyon Comes up Clutch Against LightningAlex Lyon just needed a win.
For 10 straight starts, it eluded him. Seven starts with a sub-.900 save percentage started his troubles. Then when a week of rest got his game back, he still couldn’t get a win despite some resoundingly good performances. No matter how well he played, he just couldn’t get a win. Overtime losses, shootout nailbiters — none of them went Lyon’s way.
Let his 4-2 win over the Lightning be a milestone: the streak is over. In a game where he stopped 34 of the 36 shots he faced against the NHL’s fifth best-offense, including a whopping 15 high-danger chances, Lyon finally got the win he’s been looking for.
“For me, (the win) was very satisfying — it’s been a while,” said Lyon postgame through a chuckle of relief.
Even if the wins haven’t been there, Lyon’s play has been on point. In three of his past four games including Monday’s win, he allowed two goals or fewer, and he stopped a variety of would-be goals in the process. Everything Detroit could want out of him, Lyon has delivered. With playoffs on the Red Wings’ minds, such quality starts are absolutely essential from Lyon. Not only does quality goaltending give them a chance to win, but the effect trickles throughout the lineup.
“He feels back on top of his game,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde observed, “and when he looks sharp like that, I think he exudes a ton of confidence with our group, and that was the case tonight.”
The Red Wings should be confident with Lyon in net, because he played highway robber all night. Against anyone from Mitchell Chaffee to Anthony Cirelli to Nikita Kucherov, Lyon made big time saves, especially at even strength. The only shots he let in were a shorthanded Cirelli snipe and a power-play snipe from Steven Stamkos.
There were plenty of opportunities for him to make such impressive saves. Detroit’s defense blocked a lot of shots and cut off some easy lanes, but for the most part Tampa Bay found a way to dissect it. That included 28 shot attempts in the first period, 16 of which met Lyon’s equipment. Yet, none of those chances beat Lyon in his fourth consecutive scoreless first period.
Those early saves were timely, allowing Detroit a chance to right itself for the long run of a must-win game. However, they took a backseat to the third period, when Lyon really locked the net down. He saved 10 shots, stopping five high-danger scoring chances in the process and hanging in until the Red Wings could score a game-winning goal for him.
Such a scramble put a lot of weight on Lyon’s shoulders, but he feels it also showed his team how it can get better.
“It’s the best,” Lyon said. “It’s when you get better, and just gotta make a cognizant effort to remember that and make a mental note of ‘alright this is how I’m feeling’ and next time it happens — because we’re gonna be in this situation again. (We) just gotta learn from it and grow from it.”
Lyon’s resilience finally got him the win he’s been chasing for so long, and that’s sure to spark internal confidence for a goaltender who has largely done a lot right this past week even if the results didn’t match. It also, as Lalonde pointed out, inspires confidence for his teammates.
“You look at (David Perron) tonight, veteran guy, he’s been bringing it every game and he got rewarded and scored a huge goal for us,” Dylan Larkin said. “Al was awesome again and made some big saves. Yes we got some bounces, but so did they.”
Lyon finally got the win that he’d been earning all this time, and with it he earned a crucial two points in a desperate playoff chase. His performance of late is reminiscent of when he helped the Florida Panthers make the playoffs as a wild card team by sparking a 6-2-1 stretch the final weeks of the season. Whether history will repeat itself is up in the air — especially considering how Detroit has leaned on Lyon all season. But now that the monkey is off Lyon’s back, his ability to lead the Red Wings on a run this final two weeks seems more plausible.
After all, Lyon just needed a win. And with the confidence and success that comes with it, Detroit is that much better for his resurgence.
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