Devon Levi’s immaculate road debut can’t save the Buffalo Sabres

Devon Levi suffered his first loss against the Florida Panthers, but at no fault of his own. Overall, the Buffalo Sabres failed to rise to the challenge.

So, how do you put on an encore performance following a legendary debut? You “only” save 34 of 36 shots on goal and log a 0.944 save percentage. Too bad the Buffalo Sabres couldn’t figure out the Panthers, and that outing, immaculate as it was, will have an ‘L’ sitting beside it.

Offensively, the Sabres logged 40 shots on goal, which should have been more than enough to score a few. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, as Buffalo couldn’t get anything going for a good period and a half, literally most of the second period and a significant portion of the third, and it cost them the game.

But once again, you can’t blame Levi, who allowed only a rather bizarre goal when Florida was on the power play, and a second one that was more of a gift from Buffalo in the defensive zone to the Panthers. That said, the Sabres skaters have no one to blame for that loss but themselves.

And to be frank, we’ll never know what would’ve happened had Eric Comrie or Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had been playing, but I’m fairly certain the Blue and Gold would have allowed about four-plus goals. So hats off to Levi for yet another stellar performance.

Devon Levi stellar despite Buffalo Sabres loss

At this point, we don’t know where Levi will end up next season, whether he will start the year in the AHL or if he will stay in Buffalo and play a full season. As it stands, he’s making a pretty convincing case, having allowed just four goals on 69 shots on net, good for a 0.942 save percentage.

With a half-dozen games to go, my guess is we will see Levi in the net two more times, while Luukkonen and Comrie also get their pair of games. If Levi continues to play like this, he’s going to have the inside track to at least play in a glorified backup role next season – basically a 1B, if you’re wondering.

But let’s take it game by game, and see how he fares in his next start. Overall, it was a less-than-ideal performance from the Sabres, and yet another stellar game from Levi.

(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference and NHL.com)