As Red Wings keep winning, has Alex Lyon changed their goalie picture?

DETROIT — Alex Lyon waited. And waited. And waited.

With the Detroit Red Wings rostering three goaltenders to begin this season, action was always going to be limited with all three of Lyon, Ville Husso and James Reimer healthy. And especially so once Reimer started hot as the team’s backup, slotting Lyon as the early No. 3. But soon, a few games of Lyon sitting out turned to 10, and then to 15. He was practicing, but not playing. In all, six weeks elapsed between his final preseason appearance on Oct. 5 and his first regular-season action on Nov. 17 — on the second night of a back-to-back in Stockholm, of all places.

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What a whirlwind, then, to see where Lyon stands now, just 10 days later. He has started three of Detroit’s last four games, and in the two most recent, he’s allowed just one goal total on 54 combined shots — headlined by a 37-save effort Sunday over the Minnesota Wild.

“It’s incredible,” David Perron said after the 4-1 win. “We’ve seen since training camp, the way he just stays on the ice, takes one-timers, takes shots from everyone.”

And for much of the season, that’s all he could do. How Lyon got lost in the Red Wings’ shuffle was understandable, as Detroit tried to get No. 1 goalie Husso going, and with Reimer starting red hot behind him. Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde was getting asked about his plans for Lyon every week, and the idea of a conditioning stint to Grand Rapids seemed entirely plausible. Had the Red Wings returned from Sweden without playing him, it might well have played out that way.

But now, a funny thing has happened. It’s Lyon who is red hot, up to a .952 save percentage through his first three appearances. And by the time Lalonde spoke Sunday, Lyon’s odd-man-out status appeared to be thoroughly turned upside down.

“Obviously, he’ll find himself back in the net again,” Lalonde said, and although he didn’t specify whether that meant Wednesday at the New York Rangers or home Thursday against the Chicago Blackhawks, it looks like a safe bet he’ll be in goal for one of those two contests.

“Today was an excellent game from him,” Lalonde continued. “It was much different than his shutout versus New Jersey in (which) he managed his game well but there wasn’t a ton of volume, (a) ton of chances against. Today they had some looks, they had some quality looks, they had some zone time. He came up with some huge saves. Some momentum saves. So, really big spark for us.”

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The question becomes, how much of this Detroit net can Lyon earn? Because for as good as the Red Wings have been for stretches this season — and this stretch is perhaps the best they’ve been, with a pair of wins over New Jersey and Boston this week — the goaltending has been up and down enough to leave that question lingering.

Husso, the presumptive No. 1 coming into the season, has limped to an .888 save percentage so far (although he was strong in a 25-save showing in Boston on Friday). Reimer, who started hot and still carries a .917 save percentage, has been solid but has let in some shots he realistically needs to stop. That’s all part of the game in goaltending — it’s never perfect — but for the Red Wings, they can’t really afford the confidence-sapping effect that bad goals tend to have.

That’s why it was especially interesting to hear the way Lalonde talked about Lyon on Sunday.

“When a goalie’s just seeing it, you feel like it’s not going in,” Lalonde said. “And I think I’m feeling that, so I’m sure it gives a little confidence to our group.”

Perhaps there’s a fine line. Surely, you also have to like the way the Red Wings insulated Lyon in the first two periods of his season debut against Toronto, or earlier this week against New Jersey, when they allowed just 16 shots against him. But Grade-A scoring chances are inevitable in this league, and that confident feeling Lalonde described is a big one.

At a minimum, Lyon’s hot hand seems like enough to win him a couple more starts in the immediate future. But if this level of play keeps up, the focus will quickly turn to whether it might win him even more of the net.

Coming into the year, Husso seemed likely to again take on 50-plus starts for the Red Wings. And he still might. He’s played 11 of their 20 games, and that’s factoring in his absence from the Global Series while he came home for the birth of his first child. But he hasn’t been as sharp this season as he was for so much of his first campaign in Detroit, and while it’s in the Red Wings’ best interest for the 28-year-old Husso to become a long-term starter, it would be hard to fault them for riding the hot hand and instead turning toward a true tandem — or triumvirate.

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Of course, the challenges of consistently playing three goalies over an NHL season are numerous, which is what held Lyon back for so much of the season to this point. Will Detroit find a way to avoid putting Reimer in the same difficult spot now by rotating all three? Will the opportunity for a trade arise for one? Both outcomes seem possible, but it’s hard to know how it will play out.

But what looks clear is that Lyon, after the unenviable task of trying to stay ready through nothing but practice for six weeks, is getting hot for the Red Wings. It’s worth noting he is only 30 and has the same number of years (two) remaining on his contract as Husso. And just six months after one of his hot stretches propelled the Florida Panthers into the playoffs last season — where they eventually made a run to the Stanley Cup Final — it’s hard not to wonder how much of the net he might be able to claim.

Those questions will answer themselves in time, and with a packed December schedule, the Red Wings are going to need all hands on deck in the coming weeks. And after a long wait, Lyon looks more than ready to do his part.

“He’s a great goalie, and you’re just only happy for him,” Perron said. “And you hope he keeps it going for us.”

(Top photo: Rick Osentoski / USA Today)

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