An assignment to the Rochester Americans ensured Devon Levi would get more playing time than he did with the Buffalo Sabres at the start of the season.
It also was an opportunity to rebuild confidence and get back to playing the way he has throughout his short time as a professional goalie.
Goaltender Devon Levi is excelling in Rochester with a 5-1-1 record, 1.96 goals-against average and .917 save percentage entering Wednesday.
The move took longer than it should have, but Levi is thriving with the Amerks and his presence has given the Sabres’ American Hockey League affiliate a reliable No. 1 goalie to protect the net of a team filled with talented prospects.
Levi was 5-1-1 with a 1.96 goals-against average and .917 save percentage entering the Amerks’ game Wednesday night in Laval. He allowed two or fewer goals in each of his previous four starts, including a pair of shutouts.
The recent run of success should not come as a surprise. Levi has been outstanding at the AHL level since his first assignment to Rochester in January. The 22-year-old is 21-7-7 with a .926 save percentage in 33 regular-season appearances with the Amerks, and he earned a .923 save percentage while in goal for them during a playoff series against Syracuse.
Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams chose to keep Levi on the NHL roster at the start of the season because he believed that their top prospect at the position gave Buffalo the best chance to win. The lack of playing time impacted Levi when it was his turn to start, though. He started only three of the Sabres’ first 15 games, then appeared in three straight while Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen dealt with a lower-body injury.
The numbers were ugly. Levi had an .870 save percentage and 3.95 goals-against average in seven games. He helped the Sabres win two games, a 23-save effort against the Florida Panthers and his 24 saves in an overtime win over the St. Louis Blues.
It’s become clear through Levi’s 37 NHL games that he’s at his best when he’s in a rhythm. His .947 save percentage in his final three starts with the Sabres last season, for example, occurred after he played a bulk of games in Rochester. He hasn’t looked like the same goalie when he has had to wait a week between starts.
The sample size is big enough now that it should impact how the Sabres choose to handle Levi’s development moving forward. He’s playing well enough to make spot starts for Buffalo or fill in for Luukkonen if the team’s No. 1 goalie encounters another injury, but it would be unwise to try Levi in a backup role again.
James Reimer’s performance against the Detroit Red Wings on Monday may have been enough to convince Adams and Sabres goalie coach Mike Bales that Levi may be their best option to play one of two games in a back-to-back, like this weekend when Buffalo faces Washington and Toronto on the road.
Reimer wasn’t solely responsible for the Sabres blowing a two-goal lead in the overtime loss to Detroit, but the 36-year-old backup wasn’t particularly sharp after his spectacular blocker save on a 2-on-1 in the first period. He was beat cleanly on a wrist shot by Lucas Raymond on the Red Wings’ third goal and got caught too deep in his crease when Moritz Seider tied it with a shot off the crossbar in the third period.
The shaky goaltending in Rochester behind Levi is concerning. Felix Sandstrom’s struggles have cost the Amerks valuable points in the standings. They’re better than their 12-8-3 record would suggest, even though veteran players aren’t performing to expectations and important prospects have been lost to Buffalo or, in the case of 2023 second-round draft pick Anton Wahlberg, the IIHF World Junior Championship.
First-year coach Mike Leone has the Amerks with a 5-3-2 record over their last 10. His team swarms opponents on the forecheck, a style of play that resembles the Carolina Hurricanes, and it has the second-most shots on goal in the AHL behind only Charlotte.
Prospects are showing promise in prominent roles, most notably 2021 seventh-round draft pick Tyson Kozak, who impressed in two of his three NHL games, and, according to recent call-up Ryan Johnson, the behind-the-scenes culture that took shape under Seth Appert still exists with Leone in charge.
Goaltending wasn’t to blame for the seven-game losing streak that the Sabres carried into their matchup with the New York Rangers on Wednesday night, but Levi’s progress is worth noting as Buffalo prepares for two sets of back-to-backs within the next two weeks.
Stepping up
The Sabres’ most recent first-round draft pick, Konsta Helenius, has six goals in his first 23 AHL games with the Amerks. Comparatively, Jiri Kulich had seven goals through his first 23 games as a rookie in 2022.
Goal-scoring wasn’t the primary reason why the Sabres chose Helenius with the 14th pick of the first round in June, but it’s a promising development that the two-way center is producing as the youngest player in the AHL. He’s outstanding defensively and wins more puck battles than you’d expect from an 18-year-old.
Coming back
Noah Ostlund should return to the Amerks’ lineup within the next two weeks.
Ostlund, a 2022 first-round draft pick, hasn’t played since Oct. 26 because of an upper-body injury. The 20-year-old’s performance through Prospects Challenge, training camp and six games with the Amerks showed that he may earn a recall to Buffalo at some point this season. The 20-year-old had only one goal before the injury knocked him out, but he’s one of Rochester’s most competitive players in one-on-one battles and he is outstanding defensively.
The playmaker also is missed on the power play, which ranked 28th in the AHL entering Wednesday.
