Lindy Ruff is making two lineup changes for tonight's Game 3 in Boston, and the bigger one is between the pipes.
The Buffalo Sabres head coach is going with veteran backup Alex Lyon in goal after Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen posted a .821 save percentage across the first two games of this series.
Ruff wouldn't confirm the change directly when asked this morning. But Lyon was taking starter's reps at the gameday skate, and that's usually all the confirmation you need.
"We know we're a good team because of the depth of our goaltending," Ruff told reporters. "We haven't relied on one guy. We haven't relied on one goalie."
Lyon made 36 regular season starts, went 16-10 with a .906 save percentage and three shutouts. He's not a backup by reputation, he's a backup by roster construction.
That's actually the strongest thing Ruff has going for him tonight. This isn't a desperation pull. Lyon is a legitimate option who earned his starts all season long.
Josh Norris out for Game 3 with upper body injury
The second change is more painful. Josh Norris will not dress tonight, carrying an upper body injury into a must-respond road game for Buffalo.
Norris played both Games 1 and 2, logging ice time in a series that was already taxing on a body that has missed significant time. He appeared in just 44 games during the regular season.
In those 44 games, he put up 13 goals and 34 points. That's top-six production. And he was coming in hot, with 9 points over his last 10 regular season games and a $7.95 million cap hit that reflects how much the organization values him healthy.
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He's been held scoreless through two playoff games, and now he won't get a chance to fix that in Game 3.
Boston is 29-11-1 at home this season. Lindy Ruff is going into that building without one of his most dangerous forwards and with a backup goalie making his first real playoff start.
The Sabres won Game 1. They have resilience. But a 1-1 series road game without Norris is exactly the kind of test where you find out if that resilience is real or just a regular season talking point.
Can Alex Lyon steal Game 3 in Boston and give Buffalo the series lead?
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