Despite starting just three playoff games before this postseason, goaltender Alex Lyon rose to the occasion once again against the Boston Bruins. Even after giving up the first goal of the game to Bruins forward Tanner Jeannot, Lyon was able to stop 24 of the 25 shots he faced in a 3-1 win in Game 3.
That said, Swayman would still have himself a strong night. Despite giving up two goals, the Anchorage, Alaska native was able to record a .931 save percentage on 27 shots faced.
But even with Swayman's performance in mind, Lyon was able to get what mattered most at the end of the day: the win.
And he did it in a much more comfortable manner. The kind of chances that would get stuck under a pad but not be blown dead were now the ones that were completely saved. The plethora of scoring chances that Boston would produce at a time would not eventually end up in the back of the net. In all, one could simply tell by watching the game that the Sabres' goaltending looked a lot more poised than in the first two games.
Could Alex Lyon be a long-term goaltending solution for Buffalo?
Anything written before and anything that follows should not be seen as disrespect to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
That said, it might very well seem that Lyon could have a long-term opportunity to serve as the Sabres' starting goaltender. Given that the Sabres' offense has been able to grow in each of the three games so far, with two of their second-half surges ending in wins, stable goaltending should be all that is needed for Buffalo to produce a complete effort.
What I will make note of when it comes to irrelevant topics of discussion is the Minnesota case that I brought up earlier this week. Despite John Hynes' gamble to put Jesper Wallstedt in net, earning his team the Game 1 win, the Wild have now dropped the last two games in their series against the Stars.
With that in mind, the Sabres need to be cautious. Goaltending changes can be fruitful in the long run, and Buffalo experienced that just three years ago with Devon Levi. But strong performances can fizzle out, and that's exactly what we might be seeing with the Wild.
Even with the postseason struggles in mind, the Sabres can't dump Luukkonen onto the side of the highway just yet. The chance that Lyon steals games à la Adin Hill or à la Andrew Hammond is arguably as good as the possibility that he isn't able to replicate his Game 3 performance and that the Sabres are stuck going the distance with a Bruins team that knows how to do just that.
That's why Game 4 is a must-win for both the goaltending and the Sabres.
If the Sabres are to truly wrest control of this series from the Bruins, they need to build a 3-1 series lead heading back to Buffalo. Having three chances to end the series, with two of them at KeyBank Center, is far more preferable than giving Game 4 to Boston and, by extension, putting them a Game 5 win away from potentially closing out the series in front of a raucous TD Garden.
That's why the Sabres need to do the one thing that they haven't been able to do throughout this series thus far: break the ice. No, I'm not suggesting that in a literal sense, but rather in the sense of getting the first goal.
While it hasn't cost Buffalo in terms of the overall series result so far, it is worth remembering that early leads are part of the reason the Bruins are down 2-1 and not 3-0. To take it a step further, they're part of the reason they were eight minutes and strong goaltending from not being up 3-0 themselves.
Not only should the Sabres get the first goal, but they need to get the second goal too. And preferably the third, but that should only be on the menu if Buffalo can scarf down the first two courses.
That's how Boston has been able to make an impression in this series thus far. And Lyon essentially took that away from Boston for much of the game's first half, marking the first true occasion in the series where Boston was not able to quickly take control of the game.
If Lyon can replicate his Game 3 performance and if the Sabres can put together their best opening 30 minutes of the series, there should be no doubt that the Sabres can put themselves in position to secure a 3-1 series lead heading back to Buffalo.
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