Sunrise, Fla. — There’s always talk around the NHL, when it comes to goaltenders, of who are the best or who is playing particularly well.
Who, maybe, can steal a game, or carry a team into the playoffs?
The Red Wings’ Ville Husso isn’t being mentioned prominently in those conversations. Not yet, anyway.
Husso could be, and maybe should be, after the way he’s been playing, especially lately.
The latest starring performance was Tuesday’s 4-2 victory over Tampa Bay. Husso made 43 saves, including 27 in the third period.
Coach Derek Lalonde has mentioned the last several weeks, along with numerous players, that Husso is arguably the Wings’ most valuable player.
If anyone had much doubt, all they had to do was watch Tuesday’s game.
“He’s playing well for us,” said Lalonde, who made a triumphant return to Tampa, where he was an assistant under head coach Jon Cooper the last four seasons. “Did we want play him three of the last four games, probably not. But he’s playing at such a high level, it was an easy decision and ended up a good decision, him getting the win.”
The combination of Husso (11-4-3, 2.54 goals-against average, .916 save percentage) playing so well, and Alex Nedeljkovic (2-3-2, 3.97 GAA, .880 SVS) struggling, has resulted in a change of plans for Lalonde. The hope was there would be a more equal number of starts between the two goaltenders until, maybe, further down the season one would separate and earn the majority of work.
But the way Husso has played, it’s difficult to take away any games from him right now. Though Lalonde will give Nedeljkovic one of the final two road games, either Thursday against Florida or Saturday’s game in Dallas.
“Ned will definitely get one of these next two games,” Lalonde said.
For his part, Husso was just glad the Wings left Tampa with a victory.
Husso feels in the NHL any team can beat any other team, no matter the record. So skating into Tampa and taking a victory against the three-time Stanley Cup finalists (two of those are championships) was a huge thing to put on the resume.
“That’s something we want to do, night after night, and it was a big win for sure,” Husso said. “They’ve been in the finals the last three years so they’re a real good hockey team. But with our structure, and all that stuff, it helps. Our guys did a good job, they’ve been doing a good job the whole season.”
As has Husso, who is looking to be another of general manager Steve Yzerman’s shrewd acquisitions. The goaltender is taking the playing time and quality starts in stride.
“You go day by day and try to still get better and get those wins,” Husso said. “It’s always nice as a team to win those games. But there’s still a lot of hockey left.”
Textbook defense
Tampa put those 43 shots on net total, but through two periods only had 16 shots on Husso.
It was about as good a defensive effort the Wings have had against the powerful Lightning in years.
“We disrupted the rush,” Lalonde said. “We did a good job gapping, good job having bodies back through the middle of the ice, and it actually was helping us in transition. We were getting offense on it.
“When we’re good, when we don’t give up the ice, we don’t give up the neutral zone.”
Different feeling
This was the Wings’ fourth consecutive road win, something they haven’t done since 2015-16, and moved past Tampa into third place in the Atlantic Division on win percentage, as well as winning the first two games of this current four-game road trip.
But there’s no excessive noise or celebrating, no outwardly excitement to be seen. There does appear to be a growing quiet confidence and the expectation to do well.
“More wins,” said Michael Rasmussen, who scored the Wings’ first goal Tuesday, when asked if there was a different feeling about this Wings’ team. “Everyone just expects to win a whole lot more. You’re kind of seeing it in games like that. Maybe in the past few years we didn’t find a way to pull that one out. Just overall, everyone’s collectively getting the job done to win more hockey games.”
Confident young player
Jonatan Berggren seems to be making at least one standout play each game, but the rookie had several against the Lightning.
Berggren scored his third goal, but also made a play that Lalonde referenced that showed the rookie forward’s gumption.
“He’s got a confidence about him with the puck,” Lalonde said. “We don’t have a lot of similar-type playmakers, so he complements our lineup very well. I mean, you talk about poise, he literally almost gives up a breakaway on the power play, an awful backhand pass, that most players would be rattled by. He ends up taking the puck 200 feet, cutting to the net, getting two Grade-A scoring chances.
“That says something about who he is.”
Red Wings at Panthers
▶ Faceoff: 7 p.m. Thursday, FLA Live Arena, Sunrise, Florida.
▶ TV/radio: ESPN+/Hulu/97.1 FM
▶ Outlook: The Panthers (12-10-4) have struggled to gain any traction and are coming off a 5-2 loss Tuesday in Winnipeg, which ended a 2-2-1 five-game road trip for the Panthers. … This is the first game between the Panthers and Wings this season. … LW Matthew Tkachuk (12 goals, 23 assists) has been as good as hoped after being acquired in the offseason, but G Sergei Bobrovsky (4-6-1, 3.72 GAA, .880 SVS) has struggled.
ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @tkulfan