Buffalo Sabres: All signs point to Luukkonen to replace Comrie
By Sion Fawkes
The nasty injury bug struck again, this time hitting Buffalo Sabres goaltender Eric Comrie in their latest loss on Wednesday night in Ottawa.
During the Buffalo Sabres 4-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators, Eric Comrie was involved in a strange collision when Mathieu Joseph ran into and appeared to injure the goaltender’s left knee. Problem was, Joseph didn’t run into Comrie on his own accord, as a hard hit from defenseman Rasmus Dahlin inadvertently caused the collision.
Comrie lay on the ice, clutching his knee, before climbing back onto his skates and appearing to skate it off. He even remained in the game until Ottawa’s next goal, before the Sabres ultimately replaced him with 41-year-old Craig Anderson.
Anderson’s appearance in the game delighted the Ottawa crowd, given the goaltender’s contributions to the franchise. But of course, we know Anderson, at this stage in his career, cannot realistically take on an extended amount of playing time.
Luukkonen should be the Buffalo Sabres next goaltender
All signs point to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen getting the recall. This season, Luukkonen has been solid, yet once again, highly unspectacular. He boasts a 6-3 record, but that’s a bad stat to go on. His 0.898 save percentage and 3.07 GAA are better indicators of his performance, and, yeah, eerily similar to what he did last season.
However, Luukkonen was not half-bad with the Sabres when he got the chance, posting a 0.917 save percentage and 2.74 GAA when he saw action in nine games just a season ago. Luukkonen probably would have gotten an extended look when replacing the injured Anderson and COVID-stricken Dustin Tokarski, but an injury of his own negated those plans.
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Overall, this is a sound opportunity for Luukkonen, who has yet to show he is franchise goaltender material. With Devon Levi slated to join the organization next season, along with the possibility of Erik Portillo also coming to town, Luukkonen must stay healthy and make the most of this latest opportunity if he is indeed going to take majority starting goaltender reps from here on out.
Article Source: Observations: Sabres’ skid hits seven as goalie Eric Comrie is injured in loss to Senators by Mike Harrington
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