Luukkonen Getting Lion’s Share Of Starts For Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres have been on a roller coaster through the first month of the regular season, starting out the schedule with a pair of three-game losing skids and a three-game winning streak. The club’s recent turnaround, including a 5-1 victory over Ottawa on Tuesday and a 6-1 win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday has featured balanced scoring from their forward units, offensive contribution from their blueline, and excellent goaltending from starter Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

“You get momentum, you want to keep a hold of it. There’s an area of your game that a lot of times will be real good, whether it’s special teams, whether it’s defending.” Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said on Saturday. “A lot of times goaltending can be a big part of it, you have to take advantage of it,”

Luukkonen has made 10 of the Sabres 14 starts this season (and is slated to get the nod against Calgary on Saturday), has a 5-4-1 record, 2.72 GAA, and in the last three games has a .954 save % in the last three games.

“(Luukkonen’s) played well, I think that it’s a combination of (making) bigger saves at key times and there was a couple in (the Rangers) game,” Ruff said. “There was one penalty-killing save, (that was) just a bad bounce there went right over to a one-timer that he read and made a great save on. Those are the type of saves that help you win hockey games.”

Devon Levi has pretty much been relegated to a backup role early in the season, and not getting regular work may be a contributing factor to his 1-3-0 record, 3.91 GAA, and .878 save % in four starts.

Leading up to the season, both GM Kevyn Adams and Ruff indicated that they would need two goalies to help the club make the postseason for the first time since 2011, but the lack of game action is something that led to speculation of Levi getting work in AHL Rochester while veteran James Reimer stayed in Buffalo as Luukkonen’s backup.

That speculation ended with Reimer being claimed by Anaheim off of waivers last month, but the veteran may be placed on waivers again as Ducks starter John Gibson was activated off of injured reserve on Friday. The Sabres could reclaim the 34-year-old veteran for depth purposes and send him to Rochester, but if they do, the questions of whether the better course of action would be to keep him in the NHL and send Levi down to get regular work will re-emerge.

Related: Sabres Second Line Snaps Out Of It In Win Over Rangers

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