Detroit Red Wings starting Alex Lyon; hoping for bounce-back game vs. Philly

The Detroit Red Wings have to scrape together every point they can. To stay in the hunt, it will take the Red Wings doing a good job of churning out wins, or at least not losing the games they should win, which has been a problem at times. Heading into Thursday's game, Detroit has 53 points, which leaves them in 5th place within the Atlantic, but they are just two points behind Tampa Bay, who's in third place with 55 points.

Detroit's clinging to a wild card spot with a two-point lead over the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders. If the Detroit Red Wings want to crack their way into the postseason, it will come by stringing together wins and finishing strong going into the All-Star Break.

The Red Wings have three games left before the break. The Flyers and Golden Knights are the first two games, but after that, it's a clash with Ottawa, which is a topic of conversation in its own right. However, the Red Wings must keep getting good play from their goalies to secure points.

In tonight's contest against the Flyers, Detroit is rocking with Alex Lyon as their starter. He'll likely face off against Samuel Ersson, who's basically served as the Flyers' main netminder. He'll be the primary goalie now, with Carter Hart stepping away from the team amid the 2018 Team Canada scandal, prompting him to have to head to London to turn himself in to the police.

Detroit Red Wings rocking with Alex Lyon against the Flyers.

The way I see it, there are two sides to this decision. Initially, it felt like without Hart, Detroit's got a better chance to pick up two points from this match-up. But with Ersson logging 23 games this year and basically splitting time with Hart, it seems more like the Red Wings are going to have to fight with the second-place Flyers team.

The first thing that Lyon starting against the Flyers means is that head coach Derek Lalonde will continue to trust Lyon with the primary goal. The Red Wings have made Lyon their no. 1 netminder with Ville Husso being hurt, and he had been in the driver's seat as of late. So, trusting him to start against the Flyers might be a vote of confidence for him to have a bounce-back game.

It seems like a good plan. Hoping to get Lyon a chance to reset and, get a good game under his belt and potentially stay in the driver's seat with only three games left before the break. Plus, its a conference opponent, and having him fresh again for the match-up with the Senators might mean he will play tomorrow and get to rest against the Golden Knights.

However, time will tell. James Reimer came in to relieve Lyon in the Red Wings loss the other night but will serve as the backup once again. The other option Detroit had in this one was to gamble with Reimer in the net, hoping the offense came through for them against Philadelphia.

But it's been announced, as noted above, that Lyon is starting. So Lalonde is working with Lyon as the starter and seemingly wants to grab these two points from the Flyers and use this game as a chance for a good bounce-back game.