Buffalo Sabres: Luukkonen played better than you think vs. Boston

Thanks to some bad play from his Buffalo Sabres teammates, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s final stats in Thursday’s loss to Boston were forgettable. 

In Thursday’s loss to the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed five goals and had a 0.875 save percentage, statistically wiping out one of his best games in a blue and gold uniform. Sad, because Luukkonen looked like a Jedi for a large portion of the game, making saves purely on instinct that made your jaw drop.

And if you’d like some proof, look no further than this series of saves midway through the second period:

Not long after, Luukkonen made another remarkable save, this one on David Pastrnak. While Luukkonen stopped a would-be goal, he got caught under the Bruins winger, which resulted in a two-minute minor that Sabres color commentator Rob Ray referred to as “garbage.” He wasn’t wrong.

Buffalo Sabres wrecked an otherwise remarkable game from Luukkonen

Want another example of just how stellar Luukkonen was last night before the Blue and Gold’s meltdown? Check out this one:

The Bruins unfortunately scored on Luukkonen’s penalty, and Buffalo’s defensive play unraveled. Before we knew it, Boston was up 2-0. The turnovers also began, once when Victor Olofsson had a mishap that gave Pastrnak a breakaway, and again when Henri Jokiharju served as the catalyst for two more Bruins scoring chances.

Boston didn’t translate those shots into goals, but Jeff Skinner turned the puck over not long after, leading to yet another Bruins score. Head coach Don Granato, for some strange reason, thought it was a good idea to pull Luukkonen with the Sabres down by three, and it translated into back-to-back empty netters, though Casey Mittelstadt’s score negated a shutout, one of the few positives of the evening.

Down 5-1, the Sabres basically gave up, and hung Luukkonen out to dry. What should have been something between a 0.910 and 0.920 save percentage and three goals allowed turned into a meager 0.875 on the night with five allowed, and Luukkonen vented his frustrations by snapping his stick over the crossbar.

Overall, Luukkonen didn’t play a bad game. And while it would have been a loss regardless, his final tally should have been better than what the box score showed.

(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)

Source: Observations: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s stellar start spoiled in Sabres’ loss by Lance Lysowski, BuffaloNews.com

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