Buffalo Sabres: Can Luukkonen snag the starting goaltender job?
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen struggled in his season debut on Saturday, but he was a fixture in the Buffalo Sabres win over St. Louis on Wednesday.
On Wednesday night, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen saved 34 of 36 shots on goal, good for a 0.944 save percentage, including 31 of 32 at even strength, allowing only a garbage time goal at 5 on 5. He played so well, he earned his own chant during the game, and depending on the source, they were either chanting “Luuuuu” or “Luuuukkk.”
I’m rather hard at hearing, so for me it was just noise, just as most music is in my own ears. Anyway, back to Luukkonen’s performance: When you really think about it, Luukkonen allowed either an unimportant goal or one that no goaltender could have saved.
The power play goal he allowed early in the second bounced off of so many skates that had Luukkonen somehow come up with the save, he would have ended up on ESPN’s Top 10. And to make Luukkonen’s performance even more impressive, he saved plenty of would-be goals against a team full of seasoned veterans on what was then a seven-game winning streak.
The Buffalo Sabres may have something in Luukkonen
While the jury remains out of whether Luukkonen will be the franchise goalie since a Kid Named Levi may have other ideas down the road, he could at least be a viable starter as early as this season. His performances in Rochester have been inconsistent, as usual, but he also dealt with an ECHL-level defensive rotation thanks to the Sabres recalling many in the unit.
So Luukkonen is the type of goaltender you need to judge on his performance in the NHL. So far, he has had one bad game and one good game. But it’s hard to fault Luukkonen for his performance against the Toronto Maple Leafs, given the Sabres utter lack of defense.
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If the defensive rotation holds up their end of the bargain, Luukkonen may not save 94.5% of shots on goal on a nightly basis; but he can definitely show us all that his 0.917 save percentage and 2.74 GAA last season was no fluke. And he showed just how effective he can be as a goaltender last night.
Article Source: Luukkonen earns praise from fans, teammates with 34-save performance by Jourdon LaBarber
Article Source: Observations: Sabres snap Blues’ streak with impressive victory by Mike Harrington
(Statistics provided by NHL.com/Sabres)
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