Rochester loses deciding Game 5 on home ice to Syracuse
One of the things that the Buffalo Sabres may have been thinking when they sent Devon Levi to Rochester in January is that adding the excellent young goaltender to essentially the same club that reached the Calder Cup Eastern Conference Final last season would lead to another long playoff run, but after a late-season rally that saw them tie for the top spot in the North Division, the Amerks could not find any postseason magic, as they were eliminated by the Syracuse Crunch 5-2 in a deciding Game 5 at Blue Cross Arena on Friday.
Unlike the first four games of the best-of-five series, where the 22-year-old was extremely busy and a big reason why Rochester got to where they were, Levi faced only 19 shots in Game 5, but the Amerks fell behind 2-0 in the opening 10 minutes and were forced to play catch-up the rest of the night.
"The first period I thought we were a little hyper, and (Syracuse) got a couple bouncy goals." Amerks head coach Seth Appert said after the game. "The first two goals were shots that are probably going wide that ricochet in off of our shin guards. That's hockey sometimes."
The demotion of Levi paid off at the NHL level with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen getting regular work and putting forth his best performance with the Sabres, and also for the two-time Richter Award winner, who went 16-6-4, with a 2.42 GAA and .927 save % in 26 regular season games, and a 2.57 GAA and .923 save % in five playoff games (including a 60-save performance in a Game 3 loss).
"(I learned) how to be professional," Levi said of his Amerks experience. 'Coming from college, playing a little bit last year in Buffalo, it was a low sample size, but I got full year this year of what it means to be a pro. I haven't really fully digested it yet. It'll be for the summer to look back on. But I've learned so much about myself about what it takes to have success at this level and success in the NHL. So it was a great learning experience."
It is expected this will be the last that Levi sees of the American Hockey League. With the departure of Eric Comrie, the young netminder is expected to battle for playing time with Luukkonen with the Sabres next season.
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