Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who led rookie netminders with six wins in nine starts to help the Sabres get within one point of a playoff spot, has been named the NHL's Rookie of the Month for January.
Luukkonen with 6-2-1 in the month with a 3.05 goals-against average and .907 save percentage. He made at least 25 saves in seven of the nine games, with 30+ in five of them.
He made 39 saves (two shy of his career high) in a Jan. 7 overtime win over Minnesota to extend his personal winning streak to a career-best six games. That was the longest run by a Buffalo rookie since Ryan Miller also won six straight from Jan. 24-Feb. 7, 2006.
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"It's fun to see that growth," Sabres coach Don Granato said Wednesday in KeyBank Center, following the morning skate in advance of the game against the Carolina Hurricanes. "You have to have an open mind on a player like Upie and we had an open mind.
"We thought immediately the start of the year it would be good for him potentially to get games in Rochester, and you watch through camp and you make that decision based on what you see and in camp and then things move forward. You can plan all you want in the offseason but we know once that regular season starts, you've got to read and react, and the read and react on Ukko-Pekka has been pretty easy."
After taking over from the injured Eric Comrie, Luukkonen went 6-2 in December and is Buffalo's first rookie goaltender with six or more victories in consecutive calendar months since Don Edwards in February and March, 1978. He's the first rookie goalie to do that in the NHL since St. Louis' Jordan Binnington in February and March, 2019.
Luukonen's 13 wins are tied for second among NHL rookie goalies with Edmonton's Stuart Skinner, and he can move alone into that spot Wednesday night. The leader is Vegas' Logan Thompson at 19.
Luukkonen is the first Sabre to win Rookie of the Month since winger Victor Olofsson was named in December, 2019. Luukkonen beat out Calgary goalie Dan Vladar (5-0-1, 2.63/.908), Nashville center Juuso Parssinen (2-10-12 in 13 GP), Seattle center Matty Beniers (6-5-11 in 13 GP), Winnipeg center Cole Perfetti (1-8-9 in 14 GP) and Columbus right wing Kirill Marchenko (8-0-8 in 16 GP) for the honor.
Mike Harrington
Sports Columnist
A News staffer since 1987, I'm a Baseball Hall of Fame voter, a 2013 inductee into the Buffalo Baseball HOF and the Buffalo chapter chair of the Professional Hockey Writers Association. And I insist only Chicago & New York can come close to Buffalo pizza.
