Luukkonen reclaims net, delivers for Sabres in Game 4

MONTREAL – The last image of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, at least before Tuesday, saw the goalie’s head snap over his left shoulder, the puck already past him by the time his body moved. He stood up, turning toward the back of the net with the realization that his night was soon to be over, and skated off the ice to be replaced by Alex Lyon in Game 2 in the Eastern Conference First Round series against the Boston Bruins. 

That was three weeks ago. 

Lyon would start the next game, and the six games that followed it. 

But on Tuesday, in a best-of-7 series in which the Sabres were down 2-1 to the Montreal Canadiens, in a building that is unfriendly at the best of times and downright hostile most of the time, Luukkonen was once again handed the net by Sabres coach Lindy Ruff.

He was, in many ways, handed the key to their season, to keeping alive their run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after two disastrous games in which the Sabres' undoing was often of their own making. 

Luukkonen came through, allowing just two goals on 30 shots to the Canadiens in a 3-2 win that evened the Eastern Conference Second Round series at 2-2 heading back to Buffalo for Game 5 on Thursday at KeyBank Center (7 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC). The game-winner came at the hands of Zach Benson at 4:41 of the third period on his 21st birthday.

It was a game in which the Sabres demonstrated both that they have grown, able to defend harder and more seriously, able to put pressure in ways they had not in the past two games, and that they still have a ways to go, with far too many penalties, especially in the offensive zone. But through it all, Luukkonen was a steadying force.

That included multiple crucial saves on the seven power plays the Sabres handed the Canadiens, allowing them to score only once. Two of those saves came in quick succession near the start of the second period after Bowen Byram took the first of two ill-advised high-sticking penalties at 2:23. 

At 3:09, Cole Caufield snapped a shot on net, and at 3:42 he did it again. 

Neither beat Luukkonen.

“Those are the saves that everybody’s up on the bench,” Ruff said. “They’re game-changers.

“It is the time of year where you need big saves. You’d say our penalty killing was good, but a big part of our penalty killing was getting a big save at a big time. And he gave us, I would probably say three or four on the 'PK' at big times.”

For Luukkonen, it felt good. It felt comfortable. It felt like maybe, just maybe, he was finding his rhythm.

“It wasn’t the start I necessarily wanted, giving them that lead at the end of the first,” Luukkonen said of allowing Caufield's power-play goal at 19:47 to give Montreal a 2-1 lead. “But it feels good being able to stick with it, make a couple of saves there at the start of the second period to keep it a close game.”

It had been a long time since that Game 2 against the Bruins in the Eastern Conference First Round, a span that had to weigh heavily on a still young, still inexperienced goalie. The net had been his and then, well, it wasn’t. 

Luukkonen had been given the first two playoff starts for the Sabres after he and Lyon had split the regular season, with Colten Ellis filling in the rest. Luukkonen had gotten 34 starts, going 22-9-3 with a 2.52 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage. Lyon had also gotten 34 starts, going 20-10-4 with a 2.77 GAA and a .907 save percentage.

But after Game 2, after allowing seven goals in two games to the Bruins, and especially after that fluky Morgan Geekie goal at 16:29 of the second period, it was Lyon’s turn. He responded by allowing just five goals to the Bruins in the final four games of the series, and then two to the Canadiens in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Second Round.

Games 2 and 3, though, were different. Though Ruff had only positives to say about Lyon, the goalie had allowed nine goals on 63 shots, most of them more on a leaky defense than a leaky goalie.

Still, whether it was to change the momentum, to shake up the team, for whatever reason, it was time for Luukkonen to leave the bench. The net was, again, his. 

“He’s been a great teammate,” Ruff said. “He’s a guy that sits there and is pushing the other guy to play well, and he has worked extremely hard knowing that his chance was going to come. I even talked to him, probably five, six days ago, about your time, it will come. Just you’ve got to be ready.”

He was. 

His time came. He was ready. 

“He’s a dog,” Benson said. “We had all the confidence in the world in him, all of our goalies. 'Uppie' made so many big saves tonight that we really needed in key moments. All the credit goes to him. He was the biggest reason of why we walked out of this building with a win.”