Buffalo Sabres goaltender Devon Levi showed the world that he can play well in any situation and that no stage is too big for him.
Early in the first period, Jan Drozg of Team Slovenia got one past Buffalo Sabres goaltender Devon Levi to give his team an early 1-0 lead. And it was the last goal Slovenia would score until garbage time at the 55:10 mark of the game, once again, courtesy of Drozg.
Throughout the contest, it became clear that Levi and Team Canada as a whole were too much for Slovenia to handle, with the Blue and Gold’s pending franchise goaltender saving 22 of 24 shots, good for a 0.916 save percentage as Canada cruised to a 5-2 win.
And while Slovenia isn’t ranked anywhere near the top of the IIHF World Rankings, they still gave Levi quite a challenge at times. Just check out this awesome recovery below:
Decent recovery for Devon Levi, who gave the puck up just seconds earlier. #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/zJ6Comqeaj
— Steven Ellis (@SEllisHockey) May 14, 2023
Buffalo Sabres goaltender Devon Levi shines in IIHF Worlds
Expect Team Canada to be vying for the Gold in this tournament, and you can further expect Levi to play a significant role in helping them get there when he is in the net, using the tournament to further his own game. But first, Canada must get by Team Slovakia, who they will play tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Alex Tuch and Team USA, who came off of a 7-1 win over Hungary, will also be in action tomorrow against J.J. Peterka and Team Germany. So if those two face off, hopefully they will go easy on one another.
It will be interesting to see how much more ice time Levi gets for the rest of the IIHF Worlds. But following his performance today, you will see him in the net several more times as Team Canada seeks to dominate the tournament.
(Statistics provided by IIHF.com)