Buffalo Sabres goalie prospect Devon Levi is putting together a terrific season in the AHL. He’s 12-3-2 with a .913 save percentage, 2.33 goals-against average and two shutouts. He was named to the AHL All-Star Game. At that level, the 23-year-old has looked the part as one of hockey’s most promising goalie prospects.
But the story has been a bit different in Levi’s NHL action this season. That continued on Monday for Levi in the Sabres’ 6-4 loss to the Seattle Kraken. The Sabres recalled Levi on Sunday with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen dealing with what Lindy Ruff called nagging ailments. Levi got the first start of the team’s four-game road trip and wasn’t as sharp as the Sabres hoped. He stopped 28 of the 33 shots he faced. According to Natural Stat Trick, Levi faced 2.83 expected goals and allowed five.
Five minutes into the game, he allowed a big rebound, and John Hayden took advantage. Defenseman Bowen Byram could have made a better play on the puck, but Levi also got a clean look at the shot and couldn’t make the save.
Later in the period, Chandler Stephenson scored on a scrambly play in front of the net. The next two goals were both clean shots that beat Levi. Matty Beniers got an uncontested look from between the faceoff dots on the power play and beat Levi. Then Jamie Oleksiak scored on a one-timer from the faceoff circle. Seattle’s fifth goal was a point shot that deflected off Tage Thompson before sneaking by Levi.
Levi also had some bright moments, too, including making a sensational save to stop Andre Burakosvky on a two-on-zero chance.
But overall, it was a tough game for Levi. He’s had a goals-against average higher than 4.00 in six of his last seven starts in the NHL. The Sabres are 1-6 in those games. The team around him has been a problem, too. After the game, Ruff was frustrated with the Sabres’ inability to win battles.
“Every goal there was a lost battle,” Ruff told reporters after the game. “You’re not going to win games when you lose net-front battles for goals, we lost behind-the-goal-line battles. Almost 90 percent of their opportunities were at the hands of us losing a battle … It’s physical strength on a couple of them. Got outmuscled. Conditioning. There’s a lot of things you’ve got to point to.”
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