At this point, it's safe to say that Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman is soundly dominating his intra-series goaltending battle with Buffalo Sabres netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Game 2 represented yet another terrific performance for Swayman as he stopped 34 of the 36 shots he faced on Tuesday night, giving him a .944 save percentage on the night. The two goals that he conceded would come during the final 10 minutes of the game; unlike in Game 1, his teammates would give him enough goal support to ensure that those two goals meant nothing in terms of the game's result.
As for Luukkonen, he would fall victim to yet another shaky start. While he would get through the first period unscathed, a three-goal third period would put him and the Sabres behind for good. A fourth goal, scored by Viktor Arvidsson with just seconds played in the third period, would force head coach Lindy Ruff to get Luukkonen out of the game in favor of veteran netminder Alex Lyon, who stopped all seven shots that he faced on Tuesday.
With Game 3 set to take place Thursday night, the Sabres have little time to decide on the direction of the goaltending unit for at least the next few games.
Do the Sabres stick with Luukkonen and give him another chance to battle Swayman? Or do they pull the trigger and give Lyon the starting job ahead of a pivotal game in Boston?
At this moment in time, the Sabres should look to pull Luukkonen for Lyon. Swayman has clearly asserted himself as the top goaltender in this series; unless the Sabres can counter with some strong goaltending of their own, it could only be a matter of time before Boston completely takes over the series.
Minnesota's goalie question and why Buffalo should look to replicate the Wild's success
The good news for Buffalo is that the Minnesota Wild just pulled a similar gamble in their opener against the Dallas Stars.
The Wild entered their series with the Stars with arguably one of the league's strongest goaltending tandems in rookie Jesper Wallstedt and ex-Ottawa Senator Filip Gustavsson. Both Gustavsson and Wallstedt posted strong numbers during the regular season, though the latter's are seen to be slightly better.
Instead of opting for the playoff experience that Gustavsson brings to the table, the Wild decided to field Wallstedt as their Game 1 goaltender. And it worked; not only did the Wild's offense give Wallstedt six goals worth of support, but the Swedish goalie posted a .964 save percentage while giving up just one goal. Despite losing Game 2, he only gave up three goals while posting a .903 save percentage.
Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas dived into Minnesota's Game 1 performance during the latest episode of 32 Thoughts. During the discussion, the two co-hosts touched on the reasoning behind the team opting to back Wallstedt instead of the experienced Gustavsson. Despite noting his surprise and joking about the parallels to Dallas' Game 1 loss to Colorado in last year's first round series, Friedman noted that the decision by Wild head coach John Hynes was "a gutsy call." He also said that, "I like in the playoffs, you know, coaches to put it on the line a little and to say 'you know what? I'm going to take a chance.' And I think teams respect that, when coaches take chances a bit."
It's not just Hynes and the Wild who pulled this off. If one looks back to the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, one can see that Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice made a similar gamble. After taking the starting goaltender job from Lyon (then a member of the Panthers) to Sergei Bobrovsky, the Panthers pulled off the comeback in their series against the Bruins before going all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, losing just once in the process.
With the above in mind, there is precedence when it comes to making a risky goaltender switch and expecting some form of playoff result. Will the Sabres go on a run to the Stanley Cup Final if they make the goaltending switch? Not necessarily, but a switch can't exactly make Buffalo's place in the goaltending battle that much worse.
Final Thought: Alex Lyon has beaten the Bruins in the playoffs before
Despite getting pulled in the 2023 first-round series against Boston, Lyon knows how to play against the Bruins in the playoffs.
In Game 1 of that series against Boston, Lyon gave up just three goals on 29 shots, but he could only post a .897 save percentage. That said, he would help Florida to the Game 2 victory, stopping 34 of the 37 shots he faced in the 6-3 victory. But a poor start in Game 3, which saw him give up three goals while posting a .885 save percentage, would cost him the starting job for the Panthers.
Lyon might still give up three goals to the Bruins (he's given up three goals in each of his four playoff appearances), but the Sabres should strongly consider the switch from Luukkonen to the veteran netminder on Thursday night.
Call it a reverse Minnesota if you will.
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