Lyon stops 31 of 32 shots for Red Wings, who split season series with Predators
The Detroit Red Wings put together one of their strongest defensive efforts of the season against the surging Nashville Predators on Saturday evening, but ultimately fell in a 1-0 shutout loss at Bridgestone Arena.
With the loss, the Red Wings (36-29-6; 78 points) now sit just one point ahead of the Washington Capitals, who beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 7-6, in a shootout on Friday, for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. The New York Islanders also gained ground in the standings with a 6-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday afternoon, pulling within three points of Detroit.
“To come into a building like this and give up one goal, you’re certainly going to give yourself a chance,” Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said. “Just really frustrating and disappointing that unfortunately, it came down to one play. We had it on our stick three different times within that flurry, and it was kind of self inflicted.
“A lot of positives obviously, but just a huge missed opportunity for a point.”
Winning their fifth straight game, the Predators (42-25-4; 88 points) also extended their franchise-record point streak to 17 consecutive contests. Goalie Juuse Saros made 23 saves for his third shutout this season.
“I thought the guys were great tonight,” said netminder Alex Lyon, who stopped 31 of 32 shots in the loss for Detroit. “Passion, emotion and blocking shots. Mo is always blocking shots, but the guys were awesome tonight. I thought we were communicating really well in the D-zone. I think that’s important for us, and makes the game simpler and cleaner. They can really get buzzing in the offensive zone, so I thought we handled that really well.”
Shots after the first period were 14-8 for Nashville, as Lyon and Saros both made some big saves to keep the game scoreless.
Moritz Seider dropped the gloves with the Predators’ Filip Forsberg at 4:55 of the second period, which also came and went without any goals. It was Seider’s first career NHL fight.
“It was lifting,” Lalonde said about Seider dropping the gloves. “Mo plays with such an edge and when you play with that type of edge, there’s going to be moments like that. I thought he handled it extremely well. A really good sign going forward.”
Forsberg scored the game’s lone goal at 14:48 of the third period, beating Lyon glove side with a wrister from the right face-off circle after a scramble in front.
“Kind of a weird one of those where it’s just bouncing all over the place,” Lyon said about Forsberg’s game-winning goal. “Just a good play by (Forsberg) who got it in kind of an unusual spot. He swung it and made a good shot.”
Lyon was pulled with 2:01 left in the game, but the Red Wings couldn’t get anything past Saros before the final horn blared.
“You got to tip your hat to Saros,” Lalonde said. “That was a goalie-steal win for them. Maybe a little bit more on us if obviously, you’re running into a goalie like that and you can tell he’s on his game.”
Seider said the Red Wings will take away several positives from Saturday’s game despite the end result.
“Really solid team game,” Seider said. “I think that’s what we were playing for the last couple games here and it was a really solid effort against a team that’s been riding a real hot hand. We definitely made it hard on them, had really good chances. Alex played outstanding. I think it was a really close game today.”
NEXT UP: Detroit will continue its season-long five-game road trip on Tuesday night, next visiting the Capitals at Capital One Arena.
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Seider on his first career NHL fight
“I fumbled the puck a little bit, got cross-checked and then we got the best of our emotions. I think it was pretty enjoyable for everyone. Obviously, it’s a lot of emotion playing in that game right now. We got to keep the standard high for that and then I think we’re giving ourselves a real good chance here for the remainder.”
Seider on Nashville’s penalty kill
“I think they did a good job of defending the rush today and they made it hard on the entries. I think we still got pretty good looks. I don’t think they do anything special. I think we just got have to have a little more expectation for ourselves. But as I said before, I think it was a solid effort tonight.”
Lyon on looking ahead to Detroit’s next four road games
“You want to win every game, but ultimately what you’re looking for is to play the game the right way, just bring your best and have a good effort. It felt like we had that tonight.”
Lyon on his first start in goal since last Sunday
“I felt good tonight. I felt crisp and calm, just played my game. Again, the D-core did an amazing job tonight so I got to give them a lot of credit.”
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