Derek Lalonde provides an update on the status of Ville Husso, after he was unable to finish Tuesday night's game
Derek Lalonde provides an update on the status of Ville Husso, after he was unable to finish Tuesday night's game
Ville Husso's return from injury Tuesday night could not have gone much worse.
That has nothing to do with his performance (six saves on seven shots), and everything to do with the fact that he had to exit the game after not quite nine minutes—injured again in the lead-up to the Leon Draisaitl goal that opened the scoring in what would eventually prove an 8-4 Edmonton win over the visiting Red Wings.
After the game, coach Derek Lalonde provided an update on the status of the ailing Detroit goaltender. He noted that it was unfortunate the Red Wings conceded on the play where Husso was hurt, because the injury (which came in the build up to the Oilers' goal) prevented him from moving laterally across his net.
Lalonde said, "don't know if it's the same injury [as kept him out between December 18th and last night], but it's a lower body injury." He would then add that it "feels very similar to the previous injury" and that the Red Wings would have a clearer sense of its severity in the coming days.
To state the obvious, Husso's apparent re-aggravation of that injury is an unwelcome development. As reliable as Alex Lyon has been for Detroit in the new year, Husso could provide him with some invaluable relief in the stretch run should he need rest or his game falter, but now, with another injury to rehabilitate, that prospect sounds much more tenuous.
Husso took a conditioning start with the Grand Rapids Griffins on January 29th, where he earned a 25-save shutout. After that start, he reflected that "it's nice to be back now and to feel overall now 100%." However, Husso ended up battling illness in the days before the Red Wings' All-Star break and bye week, so he did not appear (as starter or back-up) in Detroit's January 31st game against Ottawa.
Instead, his return to NHL game action came 18 days after that conditioning start, and it ended in injury. There's no way to no whether the gap between his rehab start and last night contributed to that injury, but at the very least, it does seem to be a sub-optimal way of returning to NHL play.
Hopefully, this latest aggravation will not prove too severe, and Husso will be available again sooner rather than later.
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Husso Injured Early as Red Wings Falter in Edmonton
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