Taking stock of the Red Wings' goaltending room as Alex Lyon and Cam Talbot near returns, Ville Husso comes off three straight strong starts, and Sebastian Cossa awaits his NHL debut
Taking stock of the Red Wings' goaltending room as Alex Lyon and Cam Talbot near returns, Ville Husso comes off three straight strong starts, and Sebastian Cossa awaits his NHL debut
Tonight, the Detroit Red Wings will look to snap their five-game losing streak, when they take on the Buffalo Sabres at the KeyBank Center. As of yesterday afternoon, Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde had yet to settle on a starting goaltender for the occasion.
Neither member of Lalonde's preferred tandem of Cam Talbot (out since Dec. 1) and Alex Lyon (out since Nov. 25) is available, while Ville Husso is coming off three strong starts, having made 85 saves on 92 shots (a .924 save percentage). Detroit's top goaltending prospect Sebastian Cossa has backed up in all three of those contests, but he's yet to make his NHL debut.
"Both goalies have skated that have been out, so I wanna get a report on that and go from there," Lalonde offered yesterday, by way of a goaltending update. "Obviously, I'm very happy with Ville and his play this past week, but now we're getting into five game in a nine, 10-stretch for him. It'd be asking a lot of him, so we'll have a better feel in the morning."
Meanwhile, when asked by The Hockey News, what he's most looking to take from practice to feel prepared for potential game action, Cossa replied, "I think just the intensity of the practice, obviously the skill of the shooters. It's a big jump from the AHL to here, and [I'm just kinda getting comfortable at that level, pushing my pace and even the size of the guys. There's bigger boys in here and in front of the net, setting screens and a lot better at tips and stuff, so just kinda getting used to the level of play."
In the featured video above, I made the case for Cossa to start tonight in Buffalo, centering around his strong play in Grand Rapids, managing Husso's workload, and the potential spark Cossa's debut could provide a team in need of something to break its way.
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