George Richards, FHN Publisher
Alex Lyon was drenched in sweat when he met the media in the Florida Panthers room following a tough loss in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.
“I feel tired,” he said with a laugh. “I promised myself I would try to be resilient and stick with it. I felt that I did. Just move forward, do the best you can. That’s all you can do.”
Lyon was, by no means, perfect against the Penguins.
In fact, he gave up seven goals in an overtime loss.
With 12 goals allowed in previous two nights, Lyon’s statistics are certainly going to look ugly in the light of day.
Forget all the numbers, if you can, for a minute.
Alex Lyon may be relatively new to the Florida Panthers having signing with the team in the summer.
He then played for Florida’s AHL team in Charlotte before being called up when Spencer Knight was unavailable in December and again in January.
For almost a week, he became the Panthers’ starting goalie when Sergei Bobrovsky got hurt in Montreal.
There is little doubt in how invested Lyon is in this team.
“These are the kind of games you play for,” Lyon said after he made 29 saves in a win over Minnesota. “There are massive points on the line. This is fun, where you test your true mettle. I’m really enjoying it.”
One could see the emotion Lyon has put into this thing in his postgame interview on Tuesday night.
Although Lyon talks a good game and seems as cool as a darkened movie theater on a summer day, he knows how much the Panthers have riding on the games they have entrusted him with.
He is not their first choice, nor second. We know this.
Lyon is a smart, Ivy League-educated guy. He does as well.
But Lyon continued to give the Panthers a chance Tuesday night when he was pressed into starting a game Florida was prepared to have Knight play in.
For whatever reason — illness, perhaps, maybe an injury — Knight was deemed unavailable on Tuesday night and Lyon was forced to go in for a second consecutive night.
Monday was not Lyon’s finest moment as the Rangers scored a couple opportune goals and beat a Florida team which outplayed them for much of the night by a lopsided 6-2 score.
”I felt I could have played a little better (Monday) night and been a little sharper today,’’ Lyon said. “In my position, in my role, I just want to give the team a chance to win. We came out of it with some points and given the schedule we have had the past three weeks, we can finally catch our breath, have a day off and hit it hard for the weekend.”
And, if you look at Tuesday night’s numbers and only the numbers, one would place the loss to the Penguins solely on Lyon’s shoulders.
But he kept the Panthers in that game.
Were there a couple of goals he would like to have back? Certainly.
Could the Panthers have tightened up their play and given him a better chance to succeed? Absolutely.
”I tried to bounce back. I didn’t feel very good after the first period, felt I should have had a few more of those,’’ said Lyon, talking about the Penguins scoring three in the second half of the first.
“I just tried to change up my mentality and play a little more free. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. I felt better toward the end of the game. Wish we could have gotten the two points but I am appreciative for the effort and appreciate the guys.”
Lyon made a number of Grade-A saves to start Tuesday’s game — and more in the third period when the Panthers needed them the most.
At one point in the third, Lyon made consecutive saves on Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang to keep the score tied and help force overtime.
Crosby got his goal, sure; he always does against the Panthers. Letang scored twice in his return off IR — including the game-winner on a 4-on-3 overtime power play chance just about every NHL team takes advantage of.
The Penguins ended up taking 49 shots on goal and, when counting missed and blocked shots, took aim 91 times.
That is a lot of time deep in the Florida zone.
”Oh man, he just battles so hard on every puck and made some huge saves there at the end,’’ coach Paul Maurice said.
“He is one of those guys your heart goes out to because you would like him to skate off the ice and remember all the great things that he did. I feel that way about the team. But he competed as hard as he could and battled in the net. I’m proud of the way he did it.”
Lyon, 30, has both been given a tremendous opportunity as well as been put in an tough position.
Yes, he is getting the chance to backstop an NHL team in a playoff race.
Tuesday night may have been his last chance to play in a meaningful game for the Panthers.
Bobrovsky, whom Lyon replaced at 2:01 of the first period in Montreal on Thursday night, has been practicing and could come back from his injury when the Panthers play host to Los Angeles on Friday night.
Or Knight could be in net for the Panthers that night.
Perhaps Lyon does get another chance. Maybe this was it.
One thing we do know: He is going to give his team — whichever one that is — everything he’s got.
And, at the end of the day, he played in four games in relief of Bobrovsky and Knight going 2-1-1. The Panthers are fine with that.
”I don’t know my situation,’’ he said. “Whether I am here or in Charlotte, I am going to come out and try to do my best.”