Goaltending depth critical to Sabres’ post-season success

May 14, 2026, 12:23 EDT

Goaltending depth critical to Sabres’ post-season success

Credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

BUFFALO – The Buffalo Sabres brought eight goaltenders to training camp. Of them, four had NHL experience. One – Alexandar Georgiev – was an NHL all-star just two seasons ago.

Fast forward a little bit. Georgiev was released from his contract and bolted to the KHL. In came Colten Ellis, a previously unproven AHL goaltender whom GM Kevyn Adams snagged off waivers. The Sabres already had Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and signed Alex Lyon to a multi-year deal – all while Devon Levi, the previous goaltender of the future, was set to return to the Rochester Americans.

Buffalo’s crease was crowded. But the Sabres elected to go with a three-goalie system all year long, giving them flexibility if injuries were to arise. And given Luukkonen, Lyon and Ellis were all out at some point this season, it was a smart move.

And here they are – tied 2-2 in the second round against the Montreal Canadiens. A win tonight gives the Sabres a chance to end the series on Saturday night if things go well Thursday. The best goalie in this series, bar none, has been Montreal’s Jakub Dobes. Fluky goal in Game 4 aside, Dobes has been Montreal’s playoff MVP with a 5-on-5 goals saved above expected of 7.17. But Lyon has been solid at points, and UPL out dueled Dobes on Tuesday in his first start since Game 2 of the opening round.

Having two guys – or three, if you count Ellis – that you can rely on is crucial to winning big games in the playoffs. When one goalie falters, the other is capable of picking up the slack. In a world where goalie tandems are becoming increasingly common, that’s how you build a winning team.

The shift to Lyon late in Game 2 against Boston gave the Sabres the real shot in the arm they needed. To that point, Luukkonen struggled to find his groove, even with the Game 1 win. Lyon then played some of his best hockey of the year the rest of the way before kicking off with a strong Game 1 performance against Montreal. But like Luukkonen before him, Lyon started to slow down with nine goals allowed over the next two games. He registered a -1.83 5-on-5 GSAx in that span, which shifted the momentum in a completely different direction.

Luukkonen was excellent in Game 4, boasting a 1.06 GSAx in a tight affair against a determined Montreal team.

“Those are the saves that everybody’s up on the bench,” Ruff said following Game 5. “They’re game-changers. It’s the time of year where you need big saves. You’d say our penalty killing was good. But a big part of our penalty killing was getting a big save at a big time. And he gave us, I would probably say three or four on the PK at big times.”

Luukkonen has the most experience as a starter on this team. Had he remained healthy all of 2025-26, he likely would have smashed the 50-game mark for a third straight year. But Lyon’s solid play during the regular season made the tandem situation more tenable. You obviously want your best guy in as much as possible, but Buffalo is in a situation where they could easily keep swapping the two at a moment’s notice at any points during the playoffs. If it worked in the regular season, it can work now.

And just how good was it? At one point, the club went 25 games without a goalie getting back-to-back starts. It happened to also be Buffalo’s most dangerous stretch of the season, going 18-4-3 to help them fly up the standings. That’s 30 percent of the season – in a row – where the team relied on its three-man rotation to get the club where they are today.

That’s the goalie depth teams crave. The Sabres might not have a Vézina-caliber option at their disposal, but they don’t have a weak link, either.

“Having guys like that are so great in the locker room, no matter who’s playing, they’re cheering on each other, that’s huge,” forward Peyton Krebs said Thursday. “To have that tandem can help us go a long way and we’re really grateful.”

Luukkonen is projected to start Game 5 at home on Thursday. Luukkonen has been outstanding at the KeyBank Center this season, going 12-2-2 record in 16 regular season games. But Buffalo won’t want to head back to Montreal in a must-win situation – that’s a brutal barn to try and infiltrate as a visitor. UPL has to be laser-focused if Buffalo is going to reclaim the advantage in the series, with the chance to advance to the Eastern Conference final for the first time since 2007.

Neither goalie has had to deal with big-time playoff pressure. For UPL, in particular, Thursday’s game will ultimately be the biggest of his career to date. The good news is goaltending hasn’t been the problem for the Sabres – the power play and the team’s own-zone play has left a lot to be desired. Sure, Lyon needed to be better in Game 2 and 3, but the team in front of him didn’t give him much to work with. Heck, if it wasn’t for Lyon and his 1.55 wins above replacement (fourth among playoff goalies), the Sabres would have been in a much different situation right now.

If UPL stays hot, he’ll stick. If not, Lyon has proven he can steal games. Not many teams seem to have the confidence in their goaltending that Buffalo does.

”It doesn’t matter who’s getting the wins,” Ruff told reporters earlier in the series. “Let’s just win hockey games.”

The Sabres can’t rely on scoring goals from a million miles away like they did on the game-winner on Tuesday. The scoring needs to pick up the pace in a big way. But as long as Luukkonen, Lyon or whomever gets the call on a nightly basis steps up, they’ll be fine…

… if the defense holds up, of course.

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