Buffalo N.Y. (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Sabres are riding a bit of a hot streak with wins in four-straight games, including three games on the road during a recent Western road trip.
As it stands on Wednesday, the Sabres are now only four points out of a Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Over the last four games, the Sabres have outscored their opponents, 18-6, including a shutout win over the Los Angeles Kings last week Tuesday back in Buffalo.
After some struggles to start the 2022-23 season, Buffalo's goaltending has started to come around, especially with the play of young netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. The 23-year-old has been a huge lift for the Sabres, as he helped Buffalo to two big wins on the trip over the defending champion Colorado Avalanche, as well as a victory on Monday over the Vegas Golden Knights.
“He used the experience from early on in his recall to hone in on how he could make those adjustments,” said Granato of Luukkonen during his weekly appearance on the "Howard and Jeremy Show" on WGR.
Granato has found that Luukkonen’s body language has been better with knowing what happens when a goal is given up. He also finds that Luukkonen is improving with goalie Eric Comrie practicing again. The Sabres head coach finds it to be a great problem with three good goaltenders on the Buffalo roster.
Related
Ever since Granato came to Buffalo, he has been wanting to play an entertaining brand of hockey. At this point of the season, the Sabres are No. 1 in the NHL in goals per-game, averaging 3.94 goals. Granato finds it a lot harder to create offense, and feels that it is more important than backing up and playing defense.
“What our guys have been able to do is, as you score more goals, teams are going to play you differently, and you’re going to have to learn to deal with that,” Granato said with Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase.
With Buffalo being one of the top scoring teams this season, it has been a much different story compared to the past few years. Granato wants his players on a level where the defense or goaltenders are not needing to overthink things and later end up with the puck in the back of the net.
“This was part of our focus in conversations with [general manager] Kevyn [Adams], and how we put the team together to try and take these young guys, give them an opportunity to go without drawing them back,” Granato said.
Hear more of Granato’s appearance during the “Howard and Jeremy Show” available in the player below:
