Goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and defenseman Michael Kesselring both left the ice due to injuries during the Buffalo Sabres’ 5-3 preseason loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at KeyBank Center on Wednesday.
Luukkonen, who was making his preseason debut after recovering from a lower-body injury, exited following the first period. Head coach Lindy Ruff explained, “UPL obviously felt good coming into the game. After he made a couple saves, just didn’t feel quite right, so we took him out. (It was) precautionary. (We’ll) see where he’s at tomorrow. Didn’t want to really risk anything.” The original plan had been for Luukkonen to play two periods. He had missed the first eight days of training camp and four exhibition games due to an injury sustained during offseason training but returned to practice with the team on September 25.
During his time in net, Luukkonen stopped 11 of 12 shots before Alexandar Georgiev replaced him for the final two periods. Georgiev learned he would be playing during the first intermission and finished with 10 saves on 13 shots over 40 minutes. “I felt (I was) doing a lot of good things,” Georgiev said. “Tried to bring the positives from the game. The speed is fine and obviously today I’m gonna watch video and see what I can do better. I try to take it day by day, but a lot of good things, and you try to build it to the start of the season so you’re sharp.”
The Sabres currently have three goaltenders on their roster—Luukkonen, Georgiev, and Alex Lyon—and must reduce that number to 23 players by Monday, October 6 at 5 p.m. Ruff has not ruled out starting the regular season with all three goalies.
Kesselring left late in the second period due to what Ruff described as “an aggravation” of an injury he has dealt with throughout training camp; he is considered day-to-day. Several other Sabres defensemen are also injured: Mattias Samuelsson has been sidelined since September 26 with an upper-body injury and is considered week-to-week; Owen Power missed practice Tuesday and Wednesday’s game after sustaining a strain on Monday; Bowen Byram practiced fully Wednesday and may play in Friday’s preseason finale against Pittsburgh.
Ruff remains optimistic about having Power, Byram, and Kesselring ready for next Thursday’s regular season opener: “I feel Byram’s ready to come back in, whether we play him or not,” Ruff said. “Power’s really close to coming back in – he’s got a rehab skate. We don’t know where Kesselring will be at, but I feel pretty confident that we’re going to probably have them all back.”
The current injuries have allowed Ruff to give more ice time to younger players like Ryan Johnson and Radim Mrtka. Johnson played his third preseason game on Wednesday—logging over 17:30 minutes per game and earning an assist—while Mrtka has appeared in four exhibition games averaging over 15 minutes per outing as a puck distributor.
Buffalo lost at home for the first time this preseason despite closing a second-period deficit behind two goals from Josh Norris and a power-play goal from Rasmus Dahlin. Norris commented on the team’s effort: “I think especially both the games at home, we played a lot of really good hockey, and tonight was hopefully just a one off.”
Norris continued his strong preseason performance with two goals Wednesday night while centering a line with Peyton Krebs for the first time this fall; Krebs finished with two assists including one that set up Norris’ opening goal just seconds after Pittsburgh scored first. Norris now has six points in three preseason contests (three goals, three assists) and has won 28 out of 43 faceoffs taken.
“I feel good, feel healthy,” Norris said. “Excited to be playing hockey and just excited to be here.” On Krebs’ performance alongside him: “He’s a really good player, 200 feet,” Norris said. “Another centreman out there so another way to cheat on draws if you have to, just little things like that. He’s super easy to play with.”
The Sabres will finish their preseason schedule with another matchup against Pittsburgh on Friday night in Pittsburgh.
