Sabres news: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen forced to leave game with injury

The Buffalo Sabres were once again bit by the injury bug yesterday afternoon in their game against the Bruins in Boston. The Sabres’ top goalie prospect, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, was forced to leave yesterday’s game with what looked like a lower-body injury.

Luukkonen got his skate caught on the post while sliding across the crease and his leg twisted awkwardly. He went down and needed some help getting off the ice. It looked like he could not put much weight on his leg when he left the ice.

With only four games left in the season, I would not be surprised if UPL is done for the season. There is no reason to rush him back, even though it was good for him to be getting NHL experience this season if the Sabres expected him to have a more significant role in Buffalo next year.

It is incredible how many different goalies that the Sabres have had play throughout this shortened season. Buffalo has had four different starting goalies. Linus Ullmark started 20 games, Carter Hutton started 12, Dustin Tokarski has started 10, and Luukkonen has started in net four times. So right now, the only healthy goalies the Sabres have in Buffalo are Tokarski and Michael Houser.

It is a real shame, but I guess it is on theme for the season, that Luukkonen will likely miss time at the end of the year. Luukkonen allowed 3.87 goals per game and had a save percentage of .906 through his four starts.

UPL was not posting incredible stats in his limited NHL starts, but he has shown a lot of potential at the position. Buffalo is going into an offseason that will provide a lot of questions about the goalie position as Ullmark is going to be a free agent. So the goaltending decision for next season will be a big focus of the Sabres over the coming months.