PRAGUE -- Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen took the long, winding, sometimes dark and even mentally treacherous road to his first opening night start in the NHL in the more than seven years since he was drafted.
It will happen Friday, when Luukkonen is expected to start for the Buffalo Sabres against the New Jersey Devils in the first of two games at the 2024 NHL Global Series Czechia presented by Fastenal at O2 Arena (1 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, MSGSN, MSG-B).
The Sabres and Devils play here again Saturday (10 a.m. ET; NHLN, SN, MSGSN, MSG-B).
"It's paying off," Luukkonen said after practice Wednesday. "I'm nowhere done yet. I'm still getting better. But I feel the steps I've been taking, they've been big and I've been working to this point to earn the starting position."
It started paying off for Luukkonen near the start of the calendar year last season, when he began to run away with the Sabres' No. 1 job.
Luukkonen went 20-14-2 with a 2.31 goals-against average, .919 save percentage and four shutouts in 36 games, all starts, from Jan. 6 through the end of the regular season.
In that time, he was first in the NHL in games played and starts, tied for fifth in wins and tied for first in shutouts in addition to being tied for fourth in save percentage and third overall in GAA among goalies with 20 or more games.
"He was one of the best goalies in the League," forward Dylan Cozens said.
Luukkonen was rewarded by the Sabres with a five-year, $23.75 million contract ($4.75 million average annual value) he signed July 24. He was a restricted free agent, so the strong finish to last season came at the right time for the 25-year-old.
"Now I need to perform," Luukkonen said.
Luukkonen was selected by Buffalo in the second round (No. 54) of the 2017 NHL Draft. In the years following, he played in Finland's second-tier league, in the Ontario Hockey League with Sudbury, with Cincinnati in the ECHL and Rochester in the American Hockey League before getting his first NHL action with the Sabres, playing four games in 2020-21.
"Cincinnati, when I started playing there, it was easy to think that this was one steppingstone to pass, but after that there were harder times," Luukkonen said. "I didn't always have the most positive mindset about it. Sometimes it was hard to think that way. I never gave up on it. I just wanted to break through in the NHL."
He played nine games in 2021-22 and got more NHL action in 2022-23, and it went well at times, with Luukkonen even being named NHL Rookie of the Month in January of that season. Those were the good times, but they didn't last.
By the time the season ended, he had an .892 save percentage and 3.61 GAA, and he was fourth on Buffalo's goalie depth chart behind Craig Anderson, Eric Comrie and Devon Levi.
Keeping a positive mindset was difficult.
"I feel like the hardest parts are say when you go from the ECHL to the AHL and you don't play well there," Luukkonen said. "That's way harder than being in the [ECHL]. Or you get called up to the NHL and it kind of like punches you in the face, like, 'I'm here but I'm not performing at this level, there are a lot of steps I still need to take.' Those are the hardest moments and how you work through those obstacles is the biggest thing."
The Sabres entered last season with Levi as the No. 1, Comrie the No. 2 and Luukkonen the No. 3. Levi started the first four games. Comrie started the next two. Luukkonen didn't start until the seventh game of the season, Oct. 24.
It toggled between the three of them until Luukkonen started to break through just after New Year's. He said he did because he learned the power of trusting himself and his game. Confidence flowed from there.
"That was the biggest thing for me, realizing how I need to be playing to be successful and just trusting myself and my own game," Luukkonen said. "It's technical, but I feel like it's more about believing in those technical parts. The biggest complications and obstacles happen when you start to question your own decisions, question the way you play. It eats at your confidence, and it humbles you if you're the one that starts to question your own play."
Luukkonen still has so much to prove. He has played 100 NHL games. He never has started a season opener. He's never helped his team get off to a strong start. He's never truly played in a Stanley Cup Playoff race. He has a five-year contract to live up to.
However, finally, probably for the first time in a decade, since Ryan Miller was traded in 2014, the Sabres strongly believe they have a No. 1 goalie, someone who has gone through a lot to get to this point, who has built up the mental fortitude to handle the spotlight, and shine in it.
"What you've mentioned is a guy who has a desire to keep getting better and hasn't had the easy road, has had to improve at every level and earn it every step of the way," coach Lindy Ruff said. "I think he has. Last year he pushed through in the second half of the year and had a really good series of games. NHL experience-wise he's still on the relatively thin side, but from where he came from to where he's at tells you he just keeps working on his game."
