It's the home stretch for the Detroit Red Wings, who are pushing to make it to the postseason. They had a 32-game sprint ahead of them coming off the All-Star Break, and they are hoping to keep things moving in the right direction down the stretch.
However, Tuesday night's beat-down from the Edmonton Oilers could have gone better for them. On top of that, Detroit Red Wings goaltender Ville Husso sustained an injury during the game and was forced to come out of the game. He handed things over to Alex Lyon, who gave up five goals in the third period.
For Husso, this was not good news. Especially with him being unable to return to the game. Certainly not news that many fans would be hoping for, especially with the Red Wings coming into the second half of the season fully healthy and ready to make their postseason push.
UPDATE: Ville Husso (lower body injury) will not return to tonight's game.
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) February 14, 2024
Husso's injury has yet to be commented on by the team other than reports that he would not return to Tuesday night's game. But the speculation is certainly not good for a couple of reasons. He's injury-prone, so the lack of durability is problematic in itself. On the other hand, he sustained an injury like this in December and missed a significant chunk of time.
Detroit Red Wings goaltender Ville Husso sustains a lower-body injury.
On the Oilers' goal that Leon Draisaitl scored, it appeared that Husso injured himself stretching to make the save. From the angle of the goal, it seems whoever was screening Husso got in his way, and then when Husso outstretched his right leg to make the save, he tweaked something.
It's an injury eerily similar to what happened to him back in December against the Anaheim Ducks. Husso missed significant time, as mentioned above when Alex Lyon came into his own and started establishing himself as the team's best netminder.
However, in last night's game, things did not go well for Lyon, who allowed seven goals on 29 shots, making just 22 saves in his relief efforts for Husso. Indeed, these are not the results you're hoping for from your best netminder. Husso, on the other hand, could miss time once again.
It would mean that Lyon is the team's frontrunner as the primary netminder. He'll need a bounce-back game to get things going in the right direction. Either way, Husso's injury raises questions about his ability to be a beneficial netminder to this club.