Goalie Alex Lyon’s fiery demeanor fuels Buffalo Sabres’ surge into 2nd round of the playoffs
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — It wasn’t satisfying enough for Buffalo Sabres goalie Alex Lyon to have Viktor Arvidsson’s penalty shot glance off his blocker and deflect wide of the net.
Lyon decided to pile on the forward’s grief. He began chirping a few words at Arvidsson following the failed attempt that prevented the Boston Bruins from building on a 1-0 lead in Buffalo’s eventual 3-1 win in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.
The moment and Lyon’s response, coming in his first career playoff start for Buffalo, captured the fearless and competitive approach the 33-year-old goalie has developed over a journeyman career.
“I think when you’re young, it’s easy to get intimidated by the moment,” Lyon said.
“But once you start thinking about it in terms of the game, it’s about winning and losing at the end of the day. And that’s the only thing I’m trying to do,” he added. “It’s just gamesmanship.”
It’s an attitude that’s earned Lyon the starting duties in taking over after Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen struggled in a 4-2 loss in Game 2 to Boston. Lyon won four of his next five starts, including a 26-save outing in a 4-2 win in Buffalo’s second-round series opener against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday.
He and the Sabres took a step back with a 5-1 loss on Friday night. Lyon allowed four goals on 27 shots, and didn’t get much support from sloppy defensive play in front of him. Three of the four goals he gave up came off either odd-man rushes or were the result of Sabres turnovers.
It’s unclear whether Lindy Ruff will switch goalies for Game 3 at Montreal on Sunday, though the Sabres coach was unhappy with his entire team’s performance.
“You can’t beat yourself. We beat ourselves, and we know we have to be better,” Ruff said.
Lyon posting elite numbers in playoffs
Despite the loss, Lyon still ranks second with a 1.73 goals-against average and .934 save percentage among goalies with four or more playoff starts. And it follows Lyon’s first Sabres season in which he went 20-10-4 splitting the starting duties and helping Buffalo end an NHL-record 14-year playoff drought and win its first Atlantic Division title.
Very little appears to rattle Lyon. Or rather, the goalie said, he does his best to hide it.
“It’s all about perception,” Lyon said. “It probably dawned on me five or six years ago, that if you just continue to keep pushing through the bad times, it will always turn around for the better.”
The philosophy has carried him through a nine-year pro career spanning five NHL teams.
Lyon is relentless in refusing to give up on plays even when out of position, and that included him doing a near-somersault to get from one post to the other and get a piece of Morgan Geekie’s shot in the first round. Add in his engaging and upbeat personality, and Lyon has endeared himself to his teammates.
“I really love guys like that, hates to lose and wants their opponents to look bad. I really feed off that,” captain Rasmus Dahlin said. “He loves big moments. That’s when he thrives.”
Ruff called Lyon’s approach “infectious.”
“Every goalie has their own personality, and his personality has a lot of fire in it. He’s a character and it’s something the group likes,” Ruff said. “I don’t even know if I’ve seen him have a bad day.”
Lyon admits to having plenty of bad days. But they come with the territory, much like accepting he’s not going to stop every shot.
From Baudette, Minnesota, Lyon was an undrafted free agent out of Yale upon signing with the Philadelphia Flyers. He went 6-7-2 in five years with Philadelphia, and split the next four seasons between Carolina, Florida and Detroit, where he went 35-27-6 over two seasons.
He went 1-2 in four playoff appearances with Florida’s Stanley Cup Final-losing team in 2023, though Lyon was only filling in for injured starter Sergei Bobrovsky.
Drawing upon minor league experience
San Jose Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky saw many of the same qualities when coaching Lyon with the American Hockey League’s Chicago Wolves in 2021-22. The 29-year-old went 9-3 in leading the Wolves to the Calder Cup championship.
“Did not want to give up the net,” Warsofsky told The Associated Press by phone Friday.
“It’s not, obviously, an easy league to play in, but every day he was the same guy,” he added. “It just shows you that everyone develops a little bit differently on different timelines, and sometimes you need an opportunity and he’s gotten a really good opportunity.”
Lyon fondly reflects upon his past by saying playing for numerous teams at various levels helped him learn more about himself. And breaking into the NHL as an older player after years in the minors were lessons in maintaining confidence, adapting to riding the highs and lows, and learning to put team success first.
“It’s really difficult as a young player to not get caught up in the day to day and thinking about production,” Lyon said. “The less you think about that, the less you worry about that, the better things are.”
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AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.
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