Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - It looks like the Buffalo Sabres may be alternating goalies right now.
Back on Oct. 20, Alex Lyon lost in Montreal to the Canadiens, then on Oct. 22, Colten Ellis played his first NHL game in a win over the Detroit Red Wings. On Oct. 24, Lyon beat the Maple Leafs, and then on the next night, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen lost in overtime in Toronto, which was his first NHL game this season.
After Lyon took the next two games - overtime losses to the Columbus Blue Jackets and Boston Bruins - Luukkonen had a great game, beating the Washington Capitals in a shootout. Lyon then played equally as well in an overtime loss to the Utah Mammoth just on Tuesday.
Luukkonen will try to build on his very good game on Thursday against the St. Louis Blues. Washington scored two goals on Luukkonen in the first 2:15 of the game, and he then slammed the door after that, giving up one goal in the next 62:45.
Luukkonen is 1-0-1 in his two games this season with a 3.34 goals-against average and an .877 save percentage. He says he loves the fact he’s getting right back in net.
"It’s great, because you want to play as much as you can. It’s good to be back in the net," said Luukkonen following Wednesday's practice.
"It helps, especially when you have a game that you feel positive about. You want to keep that good feeling going."
A goaltending tandem can be in sync and build off each other's good games.
"In the end, we’re a team, and [Lyon]’s a great guy and a great goalie," Luukkonen said. "It's been great to work with him, learn from him, and build from his good starts."
Tage Thompson scored three goals in the two games against the Leafs, but he only has five on the season.
"I think the opportunities have to go up," said Ruff following Wednesday's practice. "I think last night, he was in on two good opportunities. A little bit of how we go has hurt his game, when you take his regular linemates out of there. It’s been an adjustment."
With the condensed NHL schedule due to the Winter Olympics in February, Ruff has already had to make most morning skates optional and have meetings instead of practices on the ice. The head coach says it’s not hard to get your point across and coach during meetings.
"We really try to divvy up that meeting. It just isn’t me standing there," Ruff said. "Seth [Appert] takes part in that, Marty [Wilford] takes part in that. We’ll take different clips, and different coaches will talk exactly about what we need or need to do better. Probably 70% of what you need to improve on is going to be done off ice."
Ruff says he uses other departments to help him decide if they need to be on the ice or not.
"You use a lot of sports science now when it comes to trying to keep the team fresh," he explained. "You don’t automatically practice. If you think you can practice to get them better, then you fatigue your team. So you weigh what’s best for your team, and sometimes you may bypass what you should do and say, 'The hell with it. We’re going to practice anyways.' That’s all part of it."
When it comes to penalty killing, the Sabres are back on top of the league at 90.9%.
Buffalo has one regulation loss in their last 10 games, going 5-1-4. They have picked up points in their last seven games at home, going 5-0-2. All that has them one point out of last place in the Eastern Conference, and one point out of the eighth and final playoff spot.
The Blues are the second-worst team in the National Hockey League, and got blasted in Washington on Wednesday, 6-1. St. Louis has won one of nine games, and are the worst team defensively in the league.
With Jordan Binnington playing in Washington, there’s a good chance Joel Hofer will get the net against Buffalo. He’s 1-3-0 this season with a 5.02 goals-against average and an .836 save percentage.
I think it’s obvious with the struggles they’ve had in goal, the Blues would reclaim Ellis, if he became available on waivers once again.
Pius Suter is the Blues' leading scorer with five goals and four assists for nine points in 14 games.
Tune in during "Schopp and the Bulldog" for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6 p.m. when you’ll hear from Ruff, Luukkonen and Tyson Kozak, who is returning to the lineup.
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