'Winning mentality': Wings have only 14 shots but score five times to down Utah

Pearl Jam's song, 'Alive', was blaring, fittingly, in the Red Wings' locker room after Monday's 5-1 victory in Utah.

The Wings are still alive in the Eastern Conference playoff race after the goaltending of Alex Lyon and some determined work offensively proved to be the medicine for a victory.

Lyon replaced an injured Petr Mrazek early in the first period and proved to be a difference, stopping 16 shots, as the Wings earned a much-needed win.

"I just decided, 'You don't want to be the weak link'," said Lyon, making his first appearance since March 6. "However it looks, you're going to put forth the most effort you can. The boys did a great job blocking shots and we played so tight in the third period.

"We had a winning mentality."

Lyon allowed a goal on the first shot he faced, a Dylan Guenther power-play goal, but settled down and was superb with Utah pressing the first period.

"Just fight, that's the mentality we have as a team right now," Lyon said. "Just have to fight and see what happens and scratch and claw and just see where it takes us. That's what we're going to do."

Coach Todd McLellan credited Lyon with a battling through a difficult situation.

"A minute into a game when you certainly don't expect it, the first shot goes by him, and now it's okay, what are we going to get?" McLellan said. "But he really settled in and played a good game."

The Wings only had 14 shots on goal — five after two periods — but used them judiciously. The 14 goals nudged the Wings past the 11 they had in a game — their fewest ever in victory — which occurred Oct. 22 this season in a 1-0 victory over the New York Islanders which Lyon also backstopped.

Goals from Elmer Soderblom, Marco Kasper, Austin Watson, Alex DeBrincat (empty net) and Tyler Motte carried the Wings to their first victory on this four-game road trip that ends Tuesday in Colorado (9 p.m./FDSN/97.1).

It wasn't a pretty game by any means, with mushy ice making passes difficult to complete and driving hard and throwing pucks to the net likely the more effective way to create offense.

The Wings did a better job of that than Utah.

"It was ugly from both sides," McLellan said. "The conditions were pretty rough, slushy, snowy, puck bouncing all over the place. There were times in the game where that hurt us, and times in the game when it helped us. They couldn't connect on some plays as well.

"But we found a way to stick with an ugly night. Opportunistic scoring, maybe scoring on chances there that aren't even chances. We've been on the other end of this a few times, so we'll take it and we'll move on."

Kasper broke a 1-1 tie only 1:34 into the second period. Kasper was near the post when he skated into a puck and it deflected off Utah's Lawton Crouse and past goaltender Karel Vejmelka for Kasper's 14th goal.

Soderblom, returning after one game with an injury, tied the game 1-1 in the first period. Soderblom one-timed a pass from Vladimir Tarasenko on a two-on-one rush, at 5:08.

But it was Watson's first goal as a Wing, at 9:51 of the third period, that gave the Wings a 3-1 lead and appeared to sink Utah. Watson redirected Simon Edvinsson's shot, the puck flopping over Vejmelka, who didn't react to the unexpected path of the puck.

"Good pressure by Smitty (Craig Smith) and myself on the faceoff and Simon held it in and shot it to the net," Watson said. "I tried to get a little stick on it and you never know what happens. Throw pucks at the net and you get rewarded with a greasy one."

The Wings (33-31-6) moved to 72 points in the Eastern Conference standings, but didn't gain much ground. Columbus' shootout victory over the New York Islanders produced points for both teams ahead of the Wings.

Montreal possesses the final wild-card spot with 75 points, with the Islanders (74 points), New York Rangers (74) and Columbus (73) all ahead of the Wings.

"Anything you can use as momentum this time of year, you'll use and cling to it a little bit," Watson said. "It's different ways to win games and some look different than others, and tonight was just an example of sticking to it and doing a little bit of the dirty work and finding a way to get two points."

It was a short night for Mrazek, who exited the ice just 1:38 into the game.

Mrazek was bowled into his lower body by Dylan Guenther, around the knee area, and was hit high by Utah's Barrett Hayton. Mrazek immediately skated toward the bench and was ruled out for the remainder of the Wings after the first period.

McLellan said Mrazek will not be available Tuesday and will be further evaluated when the Wings return Wednesday to Detroit. McLellan added it's likely Cam Talbot will get the start Tuesday in Colorado, after Lyon was scheduled to get the start in Denver.

"We're playing at elevation that's a little higher, and the building (Monday) was cooking, at least it was down below," McLellan said. "The ice conditions were tough, it's taxing on him (Lyon), so we can talk about it (Lyon starting Tuesday in Denver) but I don't think it'll happen."

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