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The Buffalo Sabres appear to be making a big change for Game 3 of their Eastern Conference opening round playoff series against the Boston Bruins.
Alex Lyon had a net to himself at morning skate, which suggests he'll be the starter in goal. That would move the guy who started the first two games, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, to the bench.
The Sabres and Bruins are tied at a game apiece, which makes Game 3 a critical one.
Why is Alex Lyon starting goalie over Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen?
UPL struggled mightily in Game 2, allowing four goals on 20 shots.
That included a nightmare second goal, when a Morgan Geekie dump-in took a weird bounce past Luukkonen into the goal.
Lyon has been really good on the road this year -- at one point winning 10 road games in a row. The Sabres are playing the first road game of this series on Thursday night.
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff wouldn't actually reveal the move, calling it "top secret," but all signs point to Lyon.
“I can tell you this, we’ve used three goalies all year,” Ruff said, via The Athletic. “Some people thought it was a little unusual that we alternated. The cool thing about our team is, again, I’ll say this, we haven’t relied on one guy. We haven’t relied on one goalie. We’ve had a lot of different players help us get to where we are. We know we’re a good team because of the depth of our goaltending. We know we’re a good team because of the depth of our forwards. 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.”
The Sabres will need a goalie to get hot to stay alive in these playoffs. Maybe it'll be Lyon and not Luukkonen.
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