Atlantic Notes: Lyon, Motte, Cernak, Ekblad

The Detroit Red Wings should get one player back this weekend while losing another for the foreseeable future. Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press reported earlier that goaltender Alex Lyon will likely start tomorrow’s contest against the Dallas Stars. She later reported that forward Tyler Motte has been ruled out until next Thursday due to an upper-body injury.

Lyon, who’s had multiple injuries this season, hasn’t played since Detroit’s overtime win against the Ottawa Senators on January 7th due to an upper-body injury. He’s still managed a similarly solid season as last year with the Red Wings when healthy managing an 8-5-0 record in 14 starts with a .902 save percentage and 2.71 goals-against average.

Similarly sidelined with an upper-body injury, Motte is now guaranteed to fall short of tying his 69 games played from a season ago. He’s been much of what Detroit should have expected of him this year, scoring two goals and two assists in 28 games, managing a -10 rating, and being a core part of one of the worst penalty kills in NHL history.

Other notes from the Atlantic Division:

• The Tampa Bay Lightning will be without one of their best defensive defensemen tonight. Gabby Shirley of FanDuel Sports Network Florida reports that Erik Černák was made unavailable for tonight’s contest against the Red Wings but added the prognosis is better than expected so he shouldn’t be on the shelf for too long. Maxwell Crozier will replace Cernak tonight, joining Ryan McDonagh on the second defensive pairing. Crozier will play in his first game with Tampa Bay this season after tallying two assists in 13 contests last year.
• A few hours southeast in Sunrise, FL, the Florida Panthers announced Aaron Ekblad would miss his fifth straight game this evening. However, it appears his return is on the horizon with head coach Paul Maurice saying, “I think we’re pretty confident he’ll be able to play on the road trip.“