SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Alex Lyon made 16 saves in relief of injured starter Petr Mrazek, powering the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-1 victory over the Utah Hockey Club on Monday night.
Lyon took over at goalie after Mrazek exited just 1:38 into the game with an apparent lower body injury. Dylan Guenther collided with Mrazek in the net at the tail end of a breakaway shot attempt. Mrazek limped off the ice after the play and went straight to the locker room.
Elmer Soderblom, Marco Kasper, Austin Watson, Alex DeBrincat and Tyler Motte all scored to help Detroit snap a six-game skid away from home.
Guenther reached 100 career points, scoring his 26th goal of the season for Utah. Karel Vejmelka made nine stops in his career-high 14th straight start.
Utah took a 1-0 lead at the 3:46 of the first on Guenther’s power-play goal. Soderblom equalized on a slap shot just 82 seconds later.
A fortunate bounce put the Red Wings ahead at the 1:34 mark of the second. Kasper snapped the puck toward Lawson Crouse and it careened off his leg and into the net.
Watson, DeBrincat and Motte scored in the third period for Detroit. It was DeBrincat's 33rd goal of the season.
Red Wings: Detroit defended the power play well, going 4 for 5 on the penalty kill.
Utah: Clayton Keller, who assisted on Guenther’s goal, has an NHL best 21 power-play assists and 27 power-play points since Dec. 8.
Kasper’s shot bouncing off Crouse’s leg for a goal turned momentum squarely in Detroit’s favor over the final two periods.
The Red Wings totaled only five shots on goal through the first two periods.
Detroit is at Colorado on Tuesday. Utah is at Tampa Bay on Thursday.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Utah Hockey Club goaltender Karel Vejmelka (70) stops the puck against the Vancouver Canucks during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)
Detroit Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson skates with the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Vegas Golden Knights, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jose Juarez)
Detroit Red Wings goaltender Petr Mrazek (43) stops the puck during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Detroit Red Wings right wing Alex DeBrincat (93) celebrates with teammates after his goal during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Vegas Golden Knights, Saturday, March 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)
America’s two largest retailers want to deliver prescriptions to your doorstep in as little as a few hours.
Amazon and Walmart are undergoing national expansions in same-day prescription deliveries. They’re joining a trend that has gained momentum since the COVID-19 pandemic, with drugstore chains and companies like Instacart and DoorDash rushing to deliver prescriptions as soon as possible.
Fast prescription delivery options are growing as traditional drugstores close and more people use telemedicine or subscription-based care that encourages regular deliveries.
But this trend may run into limits in the complicated U.S. health care system, where drug costs and coverage can outweigh convenience for consumers, some of whom still like visiting a store.
“It takes a lot to change people’s behavior when it comes to their health care,” said Arielle Trzcinski, a principal analyst with the consulting firm Forrester.
Independent drugstores have done same-day deliveries for years, especially for patients who are homebound or recovering from surgeries, said Brigid Groves, a vice president with the American Pharmacists Association.
CVS Health started same-day deliveries in 2017 and has since expanded its reach. The chain delivered more than 4 million prescriptions through that service in 2023.
Walgreens also does this nationally and offers a service at hundreds of locations that will deliver within two hours.
Instacart got into prescription deliveries during the COVID-19 pandemic when it started a partnership with Costco. The grocery delivery company has since launched same-day delivery partnerships with Wegmans and Publix.
Amazon expects to offer same-day prescription deliveries to nearly half of its U.S. customers by the end of this year. It’s adding 20 small pharmacies to distribution centers around the country to improve delivery speeds.
Separately, the company also has opened 10 prescription processing centers in the past few years. It can do same-day deliveries from those as well.
“We’re building a modern pharmacy, what we like to think of as a pharmacy in your pocket,” Amazon executive Hannah McClellan said at a company presentation last fall.
The Amazon Pharmacy vice president added that this included rapid deliveries and around-the-clock access to pharmacists.
Walmart launched same-day deliveries last fall in six states and expanded earlier this year to every state except North Dakota, where it has no pharmacies. The company allows customers to get their medicines along with groceries or other store items.
It offers several levels of service, including some deliveries in a half hour.
Customer demand drove Walmart’s expansion, said Kevin Host, a pharmacy senior vice president. He said prescription deliveries were the top thing customers requested when surveyed by the company.
Host noted that most people pick a pharmacy based on how close it is to their home or whether it has a drive-through window.
“This is just elevating that level of convenience,” he said.
Same-day deliveries can help people get started quicker on antibiotics or COVID-19 treatments when they are sick and see a doctor via telemedicine.
McClellan also said that customers who get their prescriptions quickly are more likely to take them. She said Amazon was doubling down on same-day deliveries this year and has “big plans to continue to build and scale those capabilities in the years to come.”
Patients may like convenience, but they like saving money even more.
Same-day deliveries can come with additional fees. People who consider them will want to know whether they are getting a better deal on their medicines, Trczinski said. She noted that this is especially true with so-called maintenance prescriptions that are refilled repeatedly.
People with insurance who are taking those maintenance drugs may already have them delivered, noted Andrew Mulcahy, a senior health economist with the nonprofit research organization RAND Corp.
“The practical implications of these kinds of programs will be very muted,” he said.
Customers also will have to trust that their regular prescriptions get delivered on time and are covered by their health insurer, especially if they switch pharmacies for deliveries. Some pharmacy benefit managers limit coverage outside certain pharmacies.
Drugstore pharmacists also have started providing more care and working with customers to manage conditions like high blood pressure. These things give people more reasons to visit a store.
Plus, some people just prefer going to drugstores. Don Watson says he might consider prescription deliveries “maybe 10 years from now when I’m not able to do it myself.”
The 72-year-old Indianapolis resident said as he left a Walgreens store recently that he has no problem picking up prescriptions.
“Sometimes the wait can be a little long … that’s my only gripe,” he said.
Haleluya Hadero contributed to this report.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FILE - Media and local officials tour a new Amazon pharmacy, adjacent to a fulfillment center, in Corona, Calif. on Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (Terry Pierson/The Orange County Register via AP, File)
FILE - A pharmacy manager works in the new Amazon pharmacy, adjacent to a fulfillment center, in Corona, Calif. on Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (Terry Pierson/The Orange County Register via AP, File)
