The Buffalo Sabres ended years of frustration a season ago as they not only made the playoffs for the first time since 2011, but also finished in first place in the Atlantic Division. They received decent goaltending a year ago from the duo of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Alex Lyon.
Head coach Lindy Ruff hopes that duo can match or exceed last year's performance, but he could not have been happy as Lyon was forced out of Buffalo's preseason game against the Detroit Red Wings with two minutes to go in the first period.
Lyon did not suffer any kind of traumatic injury, but he appeared to be in pain when he slid on the ice face-first and stretched with his left arm to cover the puck. He rose slowly, waved to the Sabres bench and skated slowly off the ice. He was replaced in the net by Colten Elliss.
While the injury did not appear to be serious, any kind of injury suffered by a goaltender can limit his ability to make key saves. If stretching for a puck while making a key glove save causes pain in the shoulder, it could limit Lyon's ability to come up with key stops in end-of-game situations.
Lyon played in 36 games during the regular season for the Sabres a year ago. He had a 20-10-4 record along with a 2.77 goals against average and a .907 save percentage. Luukkonen played in 35 games for the Sabres and had a 22-9-2 record with a 2.52 GAA and a .910 save percentage. Ellis was the Sabres' third goalie last season and he had an 8-4-2 record.