Red Wings get a statement win over Lightning: Five thoughts

DETROIT — The afternoon was about the Lions. The nightcap? Well, that belonged to Detroit’s Lyon.

Because on a day that saw the city’s NFL team advance to the NFC Championship Game, the Red Wings held up their end of the downtown doubleheader with a gritty 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, thanks in large part to a monster third period from netminder Alex Lyon.

That first sentence is new around here, at least in most of our lifetimes. The latter, however, is becoming more and more routine. Sunday’s Lyon showcase was just the latest in a run that has skyrocketed the journeyman 31-year-old to the fourth-best save percentage in the NHL. This time, it took an 18-save third period, including three opportunities for the league’s best power play, but Lyon once again gave the Red Wings what they needed — and in a game with substantial stakes in the playoff race.

“Anytime you kind of match a performance from (Andrei) Vasilevskiy, and he was playing like he was tonight, huge on him,” Derek Lalonde said. “We needed him (Lyon) in the third. Obviously, with that offense, they’re going to produce a little bit. He stood tall for us.”

Five thoughts on the overall performance:

1. Lalonde wasn’t kidding about Vasilevskiy. As good as Lyon was in the third, he didn’t have to be all that exceptional through the first two frames because of the degree to which the Red Wings dominated possession. The Lightning took an early lead on a world-class play from Nikita Kucherov to Victor Hedman, who beat Lyon, but from there, Detroit took over and peppered the Tampa Bay goaltender.

The Red Wings tied the score on a fluky goal, after Vasilevskiy batted a trickling Lucas Raymond rebound into the net trying to clear the crease, and got a breakaway tally from Daniel Sprong, but they could have easily led 4-1 after two periods with some of the looks they had generated. They were outshooting the Lightning 31-10.

Vasilevskiy, though, is the best goalie in the world, and looked it. It recalled to memory the dazzling 45-save shutout he put together in February, on the same ice sheet. When he stopped Alex DeBrincat on a point-blank chance in the slot midway through the third, off a feed from J.T. Compher, you got the feeling Detroit just would not get another goal. And they didn’t.

But that’s when it was Lyon’s turn, taking his turn locking it down despite a lopsided 18-4 shot margin in the third.

2. Sprong’s goal was a pretty one, a breakaway finish that beat Vasilevskiy cleanly. It turns out, he got a pregame assist from injured teammate Patrick Kane.

“He was telling me all morning, ‘low glove, low glove,’” Sprong said. “So, I told him after I scored I was going to give him a point, but he didn’t see it. Vasilevskiy’s probably the best goalie in the league, and it’s not easy to score on him. So, it helped.”

He also, it turns out, took a bit of (perhaps less friendly) advice from a more unconventional source.

“I thought about passing it, but Twitter’s been ripping me apart for not shooting as much lately,” Sprong said. “So I probably took the right decision and shot it.”

So, if you ever wonder whether those in-game tweets are getting seen by anyone, or just going into the void … you’ve got your answer.

3. Once again, perhaps the Red Wings’ best line Sunday (especially early) was the combination of Michael Rasmussen, Andrew Copp and Christian Fischer. The Red Wings had a five-on-five expected goals share north of 91 percent with those three on the ice Sunday, according to Natural Stat Trick. They created some premium chances early, and did it largely the same way they’ve done it since they were first put together a couple of weeks ago: a heavy forecheck presence and willingness to make simple plays.

“They win lines: puck comes out, puck goes in, and they operate off a forecheck and they’re really good at it,” Lalonde said. “It’s been really good for our group.”

Detroit has experimented with different varieties of a checking line throughout the season, and the lineup, in general, has changed so much that it’s hard to know how long any combination will last, but this particular element feels especially important for the Red Wings right now — mainly because of how those three are doing it. Certainly, they’re all among the Red Wings’ most trusted players within the defensive zone, but they’re getting results because of how much of their shifts they’re spending in the offensive zone, being disruptive on the forecheck and working the cycle down low.

They don’t have the most finishing talent on the roster, but if they’re able to possess the puck in the offensive zone close to the degree they have been, that’s enough to win their shifts — and some offense is bound to accompany it, too.

4. Moritz Seider played 25:08 on Sunday, and a staggering 20 of those minutes came with Kucherov on the ice. That includes power-play time for the Lightning, of course, but it’s a window into just how tough a workload the Red Wings are entrusting to their third-year defender.

And if you want to know just how highly Lalonde thinks of Kucherov (and thus, what he thinks of the task he gave to Seider), Lalonde left no confusion.

“Honestly, I didn’t think he could get any better, (but) he might be taking his game to another level,” Lalonde said.

The Lightning’s star power can still compete with any team in the league, hence their power play converting at an absurd 29.7 percent clip, but Kucherov is arguably the biggest driver. His 34 power-play points lead the league by five — and his next-closest teammate by nine. So for Seider to see so much of Kucherov on the night, and still come out with an even goals share, and an expected goals share right around 50 percent is a credit to his strong performance.

5. Lyon talked about the challenges coming off the long road trip Detroit just wrapped up, through the Southeast, and the importance of not letting the loss Friday in Carolina snowball. They accomplished that, but the Red Wings still have a gantlet awaiting them between now and the All-Star break. They’ll host the Dallas Stars on Tuesday, the recently hot Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, and the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday before going into the break against the Ottawa Senators, their division rivals.

That made the win over Tampa Bay that much more important, as a team they’re directly competing with, and something of a statement.

These weren’t quite the same Lightning of the early 2020s, who were as deep in both stars and role players as anyone in the league. But all along Lalonde has said that Detroit won’t be able to simply wait for its divisional foes to fall back to the pack, it needs to chase them down. They’re now 4-2 against the Lightning since he took over — and this time they beat them with Vasilevskiy at his best.

Like all the rest, it’s just one game. But it was a meaningful one, both for this season’s playoff race and their big-picture progress as a franchise.

(Top photo of Detroit goalie Alex Lyon being congratulated by teammate Olli Maatta after Sunday’s victory: Brian Bradshaw Sevald / USA Today)