Alex Lyon deserves to be the Game 1 starter for the Florida Panthers

The Florida Panthers have stormed back into the playoff picture and taken control of their own destiny thanks to a hot streak, even if that did end on Monday night with an overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

A big reason for this recent streak of 6-0-1 has been the play of goaltender Alex Lyon, who’s usurped Sergei Bobrovsky in the crease with a .952 save percentage in these last seven games, and is giving the Panthers a chance to win every night.

Now that the Panthers playoff spot seems more than likely, should Lyon get the start in the playoffs? Or will they go back to Sergei Bobrovsky? Mike McKenna discussed that on this week’s edition of the Blue Paint on Daily Faceoff Live.

Mike McKenna: He better [start]! If Paul Maurice goes back to Sergei Bobrovsky, it’s a bad decision because Lyon has been a catalyst for this team and for them. Here’s the thing: he’s played seven games, and I think he’s really factored heavily in three or four of those, but the fact is that he’s just won games.

They’ve had such inconsistency in goal in Florida. Bobrovsky will rattle off five or six good games and come back down to Earth, Knight’s been in and out. Lyon has been really consistent, he also hasn’t allowed more than two goals in any of these seven games, and he has experience playing in high-pressure situations. He won a Calder Cup last year in the American Hockey League with the Chicago Wolves, and he’s played previous minutes in the NHL in Philadelphia before coming to Florida.

I would look at what Lyon’s done and I would think he’s really set the tone for this Panthers’ team in terms of battle, in terms of calmness during a game, and you look at the start that he had against Buffalo. This was the fourth game that he had won in a row for the Florida Panthers. It was a 2-1 win, and he had 25 high-danger chances against. He only allowed one goal. That was a stake in the ground for me. That’s Lyon saying “this is my net, and I’m going to lead this team”, and then he backed it up in the next game against Ottawa, 26 high-danger chances against, only allowed two.

Teams shouldn’t give up more than 12 or 13 high-danger chances if you’re on a good team. Florida doubled that, Lyon bailed them out twice in a row, and he’s doing it for $750,000. I think he’s setting himself up next year for potentially getting a job full-time in the NHL.

You can watch the full episode here…