Buffalo Sabres: Devon Levi earns First Star honors in win over Rangers
The Buffalo Sabres snagged yet another win over the New York Rangers. Who do you credit with this one? Devon Levi, who enjoyed another remarkable game.
Wow, do the Buffalo Sabres like putting up adrenaline-pumping performances. And in tonight’s win over the New York Rangers, they did just that, sneaking in another win that went to a shootout to keep their playoff hopes alive for at least one more day.
J.J. Peterka opened the scoring, but a bad period from the Sabres forced goaltender Devon Levi to make another set of highlight reel saves. It was at the three minutes to go mark of the second frame when I muttered to myself, “they have to get out of this period and regroup.”
Regroup they did, and while the Rangers held the Blue and Gold without a shot on net for a significant portion, Casey Mittelstadt found a way to sneak one around superstar goaltender Igor Shesterkin to continue his recent tear.
But this would not have been possible if it wasn’t for Devon Levi, who saved 26 of 28 shots on goal, good for a 0.928 save percentage. In the shootout, he saved four out of five, giving the Sabres their 40th win of the season.
Buffalo Sabres goaltender responds to adversity in an elite way
Over his previous two starts, Levi gave up nine goals, after letting just four by in his first two outings. Of course, the rookie goaltender embraced the chaos, and put on another show for Sabres fans everywhere.
For a goaltender heading into what was his fifth career start, rebounding from allowing so many goals (even if about half weren’t on him) is something few players his age can do. Well, a former seventh round draft pick making an immediate jump from college to the NHL amidst a team playing catchup with meaningful games late in the season for the first time in 12 seasons is something few players his age can do.
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When you put it into that perspective, you need to ask yourself: Is there anything this kid can’t do? In five starts, he’s beaten the Rangers twice, plus the Carolina Hurricanes, and allowed just two goals to a hot Florida Panthers team. And he came up big in two shootouts. That’s an impressive resume for a player who joined the team a month ago.
(Statistics provided by NHL.com)