Red Wings fans got an early Thanksgiving treat with a dominant shutout win over the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday. It looks like they may have also gotten some clarity on what the depth chart will look like at the goaltending position moving forward.
Pass the butter to Alex Lyon because he is on a roll. He’s only made two starts for the Wings, but he may have already overtaken James Reimer as Ville Husso’s backup.
Despite a strong start, James Reimer has struggled a bit in his last couple of starts. On the 16th in Sweden, Reimer allowed Ottawa to score five goals, including the game winner with two seconds left in overtime. That opened the door for Alex Lyon’s Red Wings debut the following day against Toronto in Sweden.
Despite the Maple Leafs’ comeback, Lyon still looked good in his first game wearing a Red Wings sweater. He had a shutout going through two periods before Toronto started to make their comeback. The goals the Maple Leafs scored were extremely difficult to defend, and not many goaltenders could stop them. Toronto put together some great scoring chances. It was Lyon’s first time playing hockey in the regular season, and it was against a very good team. It was tough to throw Lyon into that situation, but I thought he handled it well.
The bottom line after his fantastic game against the Devils where he earned the second star is that he should be the backup to Ville Husso. It’s not just because he’s playing well right now, but because at 30 years old, he has more upside than 35-year-old James Reimer. Not just with the age gap, but Lyon was great last year for the Florida Panthers. I felt that at the beginning of the year, Lyon had more upside, and now he’s starting to prove it. Don’t be surprised if you see less of James Reimer and more of Alex Lyon.
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