Despite crowded Sabres goalie room, UPL getting a shot

One of the offseason headlines that surrounded the Buffalo Sabres was focused on their goalkeeping situation. The Sabres are certainly in a less than ideal place with their current goalies. And after countering the loss of Linus Ullmark and Carter Hutton with the signing of Craig Anderson and Aaron Dell, it seems that Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen may have to wait a bit longer to become a mainstay on Buffalo’s regular-season roster.

But despite the goalie room not favoring UPL’s chances at being a Sabre on opening night, he is getting all the chances to prove himself in preseason play. Head Coach Don Granato announced this morning that the plan for tonight’s preseason game against the Blue Jackets in Buffalo is for UPL to play the entire game.

This is the second time this preseason that Luukkonen is set to play the entire game. He played all three periods in Detroit against the Red Wings last week and showed some good things, and some not-so-good. UPL looked very strong in the first period of that game, stopping all 18 shots he saw in the first 20 minutes, but he struggled the rest of the way.

UPL gave up five goals on 31 total shots in the game. But to be honest, he did not get much help from his teammates to make his life easier. But that is what preseason is for. These games are for development and to see what you have before the games really start to matter.

Luukkonen has been the only goalie to play through an entire game so far this preseason, and he will do it again tonight. It seems that Granato and the Sabres are willing to give UPL all the chances they can this preseason to try and let him prove himself. He is still not likely to beat out Dell or Anderson for an opening night roster spot, but a strong preseason could give him a shot to be called up earlier than some think if Dell or Anderson start off struggling.