After staying off the ice Thursday and filling a few media requests to talk about his remarkable game, Lyon said he was more refreshed than expected when he got ready for practice Friday.
"I feel surprisingly good," he said. "I was really surprised yesterday, because sometimes you come off back to backs that are just six periods and you feel like you got hit by a Mack truck. I feel pretty good."
Lyon said one reason he was able to last as long as he did in Game 4 and still be ready for Game 5 was how he was able to use moments during the game to conserve energy. He said during overtime, when the pace of play slowed as each team began to experience the wear and tear of back-to-back games, that he realized he might need to prepare for a long night.
"I had felt like I need to be pre-emptive here and I need to start taking a rest just in case this does get crazy," he said. "I'm happy maybe I had a lite bit of foresight to conserve a little bit before I needed to start.
"The one thing I made a big effort on was taking a knee when play was in the other end. Sounds simple, probably looks a little bit lazy, but I would take a knee and let the legs recover. Just keeping it loose makes a big difference. You can really tire yourself out by trying too hard to be engaged in the game. I was feeling good and I tried to just keep telling myself feel good, have confidence, trust yourself. … Just have confidence in your game, trust your abilities and don't stress yourself out because it's only going to be more exhausting."
After some real rest, Lyon is ready put on the pads again. The win in Game 4 gave Lehigh Valley a 3-1 series lead, and the focus has turned to trying to end the series with a win in Game 5 to earn a berth in the Eastern Conference Final against the Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs).
That started with practice Friday.
"The general consensus was we needed to get a stretch in the legs, loosen up a little bit," he said. "Everyone's looking forward to it."
