Sabres’ Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen leaves game with lower-body injury

The Buffalo Sabres have announced that goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will not return to Wednesday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins due to a lower-body injury.

According to the Sabres, the injury he sustained in the game is the same one that flared up when entering training camp. He had tweaked something at the end of the summer, and didn’t start training camp until more than a week after it started.

Luukkonen played the entirety of the first period before leaving the game, with the Sabres announcing his absence just before the start of the second period. It’s likely that he had tweaked the injury sometime in the period, and decided to step out of the game after evaluating it during the intermission. It’s also possible that the departure is precautionary in preparation for the regular season.

The severity of Luukkonen’s injury and his timeline for return is not known at this point, but will likely be confirmed either at the end of Wednesday’s game or during practice. The Sabres don’t start their season until Thursday, October 9th, so Luukkonen will have a week to get healthy in time for that.

The Sabres still have plenty of depth in net if Luukkonen is not ready for the season opener. After signing Alex Lyon to a two-year deal with a $1.5 million cap hit in the summer, the Sabres also signed Alexandar Georgiev to a one-year, $825,000 contract shortly before Luukkonen’s initial injury was announced. Buffalo also has young netminder Devon Levi in their system as well.

Luukkonen left Wednesday’s game stopping 11 of 12 shots and saving 1.36 goals above expected, with Georgiev taking over for him in the game. This was Luukkonen’s first game of the preseason.

After a breakout season in 2023-24, Luukkonen struggled with the Sabres in 2024-25 with a 24-24-5 record, an .887 save percentage, and a -4.83 5v5 goals saved above expected in 55 games.