RECAP: Husso exits with lower-body injury in Red Wings’ 8-4 road loss to Oilers

EDMONTON – Goalie Ville Husso sustained a lower-body injury during the first period of the Detroit Red Wings’ 8-4 loss to the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Tuesday night.

Husso, who was making his first start for Detroit since Dec. 18, made six saves before he appeared to be in discomfort after trying to stop the game-opening goal from Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl at 8:48 of the first period. Netminder Alex Lyon immediately replaced Husso and stopped 22-of-29 shots in relief.

“Unfortunately, he hurt himself previous to the goal, hence him not being able to move laterally on the goal," Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said about Husso. "It’s very unfortunate for him, especially because he’s fought and worked very hard to get back to this point. Going to be a setback again, we’ll know a little bit more probably tomorrow. It feels very similar to his previous injury there.”

With the loss, Detroit dropped to 27-19-6 (60 points) this season, while Edmonton (31-17-1; 63 points) won its eighth straight home game in the 2024 calendar year.

“There are nights you can come in here, play well against a team like that and not get an outcome,” Lalonde said. “This game was there with some opportunity.”

Codi Ceci made it 2-0 at 11:05 of the second period, scoring his first goal of the season on a shot from the point after taking a pass from Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who recorded a career-high six assists on Tuesday.

“He’s really dominant,” Moritz Seider said about McDavid. “I think today he got the better of us, which is frustrating. I thought up to a point, we did a pretty solid job of containing him.”

Alex DeBrincat got one back for Detroit on the power play at 15:39 of the first period, one-timing an impressive feed from Patrick Kane past Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner - who finished with 34 saves - to make it 2-1. Seider had the secondary assist on DeBrincat’s 19th goal of the season.

Taking a centering pass from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Evan Bouchard pushed it to 3-1 with his 12th goal of the season at 10:17 of the second period.

Detroit struck again on the power play at 11:24 of the second period when Joe Veleno buried a loose puck from in front to make it 3-2. Assisted by Daniel Sprong and DeBrincat, Veleno set a new career high in goals (10) and extended his point streak to four straight games.

At 14:30 of the second period, Kane finished J.T. Compher’s cross-ice pass to tie the game at 3-3. David Perron also assisted on Kane’s eighth goal of the season.

Tuesday marked Kane’s 333rd career multi-point game, as the veteran forward passed Jeremy Roenick for the second-most by a U.S.-born skater in NHL history behind Mike Modano (358).

After Detroit surrendered four unanswered goals before the 14-minute mark of the third period, David Perron redirected a shot from Ben Chiarot at 15:10 to make it 7-4. Christian Fischer also assisted on Perron's 11th goal of the season, giving him helpers in back-to-back games.

"When you make those kinds of mistakes against the top players in the world, they make you pay for it," Seider said. "Definitely we learned our lesson today."

With 2:11 remaining, Nugent-Hopkins scored his second goal of the third period for the 8-4 final.

“We’re going into Vancouver on Thursday,” Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said. “It needs to be a little look in the mirror from everyone. We need to bring our A-game.”

NEXT UP: Detroit will conclude its season series against the NHL-leading Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Thursday night.

QUOTABLE

Larkin on Detroit’s first 40 minutes compared to its final 20 minutes

“I think we started well. We felt like we were the better team for 40 minutes, but that’s not a full hockey game. It’s something that we emphasize is playing a full 60 minutes, especially on the road. Really fell off the tracks there in the third.”

Seider on if the Red Wings got away from their defensive game

“I think we really just lost it in the third, which is realty disappointing. I thought up to that point, we had better chances. We were kind of rolling and then in the end, it’s a real devastating result. A lot of mistakes we got to correct. It’s still a long road trip, but hopefully we can really flip the switch here pretty quick.”

Seider on Detroit's power-play success against Edmonton

“I think we came in with a really solid game plan. They usually don’t take a lot of penalties, so we had to take advantage. That’s definitely something positive to take away from that game.”