Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Linus Ullmark still has a chance to play in the final two games of the season in Pittsburgh against the Penguins. However, the rest of the Buffalo Sabres goalies not named Ullmark or Michael Houser are done for the season.
Don Granato said on Tuesday that Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Carter Hutton and Dustin Tokarski are out for the year. Tokarski has left the team to deal with a family matter.
Only a few players practiced Tuesday morning ahead of the evening's game against the New York Islanders. Ullmark was among those players out on the ice.
“Linus skated again this morning and he was improved again," the interim head coach said. "That means he’s closer, but it’s going to be really close. So that decision won’t be made until that game day. He’s not ready today, and a possibility [for Thursday] I would say, but I wouldn’t say probability.”
Granato said as of now, Ullmark isn’t at full range, but the hope is he gets there by the weekend.
Houser hadn’t played a game in over a year and after his win on Monday, he talked about being tired. Granato isn’t too worried.
“You could worry about lots of different things, but at the end of the day, you don’t. You play," Granato said. "You embrace the situation, you get excited for it, you embrace the challenge of it, and if you are tired you fight through it.
“I think Michael is one of those personalities, so he will fight through it and he may not even notice that he’s tired until after the game.”
Jeff Skinner only played two shifts in the third period of Monday’s game. Skinner has rarely played well this season no matter who the coach is.
“We went down to nine forward," Granato explained. "I switched lines up, because I thought certain guys were going and were more in the moment last night. So when I popped Anders Bjork up there, the chemistry was real good and instant, and late in the game it’s easier to get three lines and nine guys into a rhythm.
“I will say everybody has bumps and bruises that are a factor, so in that regard, Jeff is like many other players. That’s why I don’t want to go into it, because everybody is beat up.”
Colin Miller will be back in the lineup for Will Borgen.
If anything were to happen to Houser in the game, Stefanos Lekkas signed a tryout contract on Monday. Lekkas played four years at Vermont before signing with the Fort Wayne Comets of the ECHL. In Fort Wayne, he was 7-2-2 with a 2.15 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage.
When the Rochester Americans needed a goalie, he signed there and went 1-5-1 with a 4.32 goals-against average and an .863 save percentage. Remember the Amerks have only been putting five players on the ice with NHL contracts, because of all the injuries with the Sabres.
Lekkas didn’t know until the day of the game that he’d be driving to Buffalo. He didn’t play, but he did dress as the backup to Houser and he enjoyed every minute of it.
“It was awesome," Lekkas said on Tuesday. "It was obviously a pretty crazy day. I got to Buffalo around 3:30 p.m. [ET], and just to go through the game day process, to go through a warm up and be part of a win was is something I’ll always remember. And just being here for however long it ends up being makes you really want to earn more chances.”
Lekkas has gone from Fort Wayne to Rochester to Buffalo, and also had to deal with a global pandemic.
“It’s been crazy," he said. "I did a lot of training waiting for this year to start, and then I finally got things going in Fort Wayne and had a lot of success there. Then I got called up to Rochester and as I was in Rochester, I start seeing what’s going on up here and then I was extremely fortunate to get the call up here. So you really never know. It's been a ride this year, and I’m just enjoying it all.”
There aren’t too many goalies that play in all three professional leagues in the same season. He said he’s seen all the differences.
“Each time you elevate, you see individual skill levels rise. But at the same time, the game gets cleaner as a five-man unit," Lekkas said. "There’s a lot of plays at this level, especially where everything is so clean and even defensively guys can take care of the puck so well, and it’s been really cool to see that progression and the level moves up.”
Sam Reinhart is now on a 40-goal pace thanks to eight goals in his last six games, and 13 goals in his last 19 games. Reinhart’s 25 goals are eighth in the NHL. He’s one goal ahead of Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin.
Buffalo’s win on Monday was its first in seven games with the Islanders. New York has lost four of its last six games, and it has cost them in the standings. The Islanders sit fourth in the East, one point back of the Boston Bruins and four behind both the Capitals and Penguins.
The top teams against the Sabres:
- Pittsburgh: 5-1-0
- Washington: 6-1-1
- Boston: 7-1-0
- Islanders: 6-1-0
Join Schopp and the Bulldog for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6 p.m. ET when they’ll be joined by Granato, Lekkas and Riley Sheahan.
