Amerks Update | Luukkonen showing resiliency between the pipes this year

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has had a whirlwind of a season.
The Buffalo Sabres goaltending prospect was assigned to the Rochester Americans during training camp, and after a shaky start to the season in Rochester, was recalled to the NHL in December because of a slew of injuries to Buffalo's netminders.
He performed well before sustaining an injury of his own on January 11 that sidelined him for a month.
Now, he's back with the Amerks where he's started seven of Rochester's last 10 games.

The 6-foot-5, 217-pound native of Espoo, Finland is the first to admit that this season hasn't gone as exactly as he would have hoped, but there still is time to finish on a high note.
"Injuries are always unfortunate, but I think coming back from it I've been all right," he said. "The start of the season wasn't perfect for me either, but I'm starting to see improvement which is something I want to build off."
Luukkonen played nine games for the Sabres at the end of last season for his first taste of NHL action. He picked up his first win on his first start on April 23 against Boston, but sustained a season-ending injury in his fourth game.
After two preseason appearances this year, the front office decided that starting the year in Rochester would be beneficial to his development.
Before his callup to Buffalo in early December, Luukkonen had a 6-6 record with a save percentage under .900 and was struggling to find the consistency he had shown as an OHL MVP with Sudbury in 2018.
In the middle of those difficult games, he did earn his first AHL shutout on November 13 and was named the AHL's Player of the Week in large part because of that 32-save performance.

His nine starts for Buffalo this year proved that the work he was putting in at the AHL level was paying off.
He played much better than his 2-5-2 record indicated, allowing a team-low 2.74 goals per game. He kept the Sabres in tight, low-scoring battles with a .917 save percentage, highlighted by victories in Winnipeg and Minnesota.
When he was ready to return from his lower-body injury on February 9, the team reassigned him to Rochester, where he's getting the bulk of the playing time.
"There's always a feeling of doubt when you're coming back from injury," he said earlier this week. "The biggest thing for me was to find that confidence again, and I definitely think that is happening right now."
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On Friday in Syracuse, Luukkonen and the Amerks outlasted the Crunch in overtime. Luukkonen stole the show, making a career-high 54 saves in a 2-1 overtime victory. He came back with a 33 save-performance in a 5-3 win over Toronto on Sunday.
The positives of posting a .956 save percentage over two games on the weekend (87 saves on 91 shots) are what he's looking to build upon, even if other tough games pop up.
"In the game against Syracuse, the guys played really well in front of me," Luukkonen said. "As a goalie, when you're facing a lot of shots, and you're continuing to make saves it will always boost your confidence."
Amerks coach Seth Appert applauded his goaltender's resiliency to bounce back after a rough outing - a 5-1 loss on February 20 - and have a dominant weekend.
"It's really impressive for a young player to be able to do that and bounce back the way he did this past weekend. He's a special player," Appert said.
Luukkonen is also confident that he is ready both mentally and physically to make a return to Buffalo in between the pipes before the end of the season.
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't want another shot in Buffalo," he said. "I feel like I played well when I was there before the injury. I'm confident that I'll get the opportunity to play there soon."
Following last night's 6-3 loss to the Crunch at home, the Amerks will regroup for two games this weekend. They'll face Belleville on the road in back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday.