Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Devon Levi has started the last two games for the Buffalo Sabres, and played in the last seven periods. However, things have not gone well.
Between Oct. 18 and Nov. 10, Levi played one game, which is totally on general manager Kevyn Adams. He needed to go down to Rochester and play with the Amerks.
That’s exactly what he’s now going to do.
"Devon is going to go down. We’ve got to get him some games, get him playing. It’ll be the best thing for him," said Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff on Monday.
In those seven periods, Levi was 1-2-0 with a 4.01 goals-against average and an .855 save percentage. And yes, it was as bad as the numbers look.
"It’s as simple as that. He needs to play," Ruff said. "This is the first time in his career he’s dealt with, I think, it was one game in a month, and that’s not easy on a young goaltender. You need to find some rhythm, you need to see game chaos, which you don’t get in practice.
"I just had a great conversation with him. Nobody likes to go down, but he wants to play too. He said it’s the first time he’s really dealt with that long a period of time. It’s a good learning experience, but hard. He wants to play, for sure. I mean, he’s a highly competitive kid. You just watch his practices, you watch pre-practice, you watch post-practice, he’s 100% go all the time."
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will be back in the lineup this week, and will be in goal on Wednesday in Los Angeles against the Kings.
"He was really playing well for us, had really gotten himself in a good grove. Coming off missing time, you hope his game is going to be in a good spot, but it might take a little bit," Ruff admitted. "But we need to play good in front of him, so for the first period-and-a-half, you let your goalie get into the game."
In the four games before he played hurt against the Montreal Canadiens, Luukkonen looked very good, going 3-1-0 with a 1.49 goals-against average and a .947 save percentage.