Sabres appear to be switching goalies for Game 2 in Boston

Boston, MA (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Sabres are in Boston on Thursday for Game 3 of the best of seven Stanley Cup series which is tied at one.

Josh Norris is injured and Lindy Ruff said he’s day-to-day, so Noah Ostlund will center his line with Zach Benson and Josh Doan. Tyson Kozak goes in for Josh Dunne.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had one bad period in Game 2 and it appears Ruff is turning to Alex Lyon who had his own net in the morning skate. In his career he has played in five playoff games, the 14 minutes he played in Game 2 and four others with the Florida Panthers going 1-2-0 with a 3.39 goals against and .895 save percentage.

Of course Ruff isn’t going to confirm who is in net, but he did talk about the 33-year-old after the morning skate. Ruff said,

“We’ve used three goalies all year and some people thought it was unusual that we alternated and we haven’t relied on one guy, we know we’re a good team because of the depth of our goaltending and it isn’t about one person. We could alternate goaltenders from now until the end of the playoffs and it would be perfectly normal for our club.”

So why now? What does Lyon bring to Game 3? Ruff said,

“He brings experience, as well as he played for us all year, he’s been in big games before and I think he understands that and he’s a great guy in the dressing room, a guy that teammates all love.

“When he isn’t playing he’s an incredibly hard worker and in his preparation.”

This season Lyon won 10 straight games on the road which was one off the NHL record. Ruff said,

“A lot of those games he made big saves at real critical times of the game that allowed us to win some of those road games, and some of those road games we played really well in front of him, but it was a combination of a lot of different things, but he’s comfortable playing whether he’s at home or on the road and his preparation is exactly the same, he’s just a well prepared athlete.”

Join “Schopp and the Bulldog” for the pregame starting at 6:00 when he’ll hear from both coaches and assorted players including Rasmus Dahlin and Lyon.