Ukko Pekka-Luukkonen, 24, is not used to getting anything easy in North America. The goalkeeper, who moved from HPK to the Ontario Junior League for the 2018-2019 season, shone in Sudbury, but it did not open any doors in the following season in the North American professional bowls.
Not even though there was also a fresh World Youth Championship gold medal from the Vancouver Games below.
Even though Luukkonen’s second-round booking was a clear and interesting project for Buffalo, the club didn’t offer much of a lead at first. Instead of the AHL, Luukkonen was allowed to start his journey towards the NHL in the fall of 2019 from the farm’s farm, the East Coast Hockey League.
Luukkonen flashed in the NHL last season, but at the beginning of the new season the situation was familiar from previous years: nothing would be handed out on a tray.
– We went with a rotation of three goalkeepers and I was only third in the rotation. But it wasn’t the first time I was in a situation I didn’t want to be in. Still, good games had to be played. I just tried to look at the situation as if I had been given the opportunity to play as a starting point guard in the NHL, Luukkonen begins.
– When you get to show, do you want to tense up and squeeze the bat or take the opportunity as a privilege, Luukkonen asks rhetorically.
By playing in the front row
However, Luukkonen fought for a place for himself. After an excellent November, the head coach Don Granato publicly told the Finn that the torch had been passed.
At this point, the Sabers sent the 22-year-old Devon Levin to the farm. Since then, Levi has returned to the NHL, but behind Luukkonen.
– It’s a good feeling that I’ve earned the responsibility I’ve been given and played a place for myself. That way you also get credit from the team and coaching that you have earned your place, Luukkonen sees.
However, there was one more bump in the road, getting sick in December.
– After that we returned to a rotation of three goalkeepers and it is not an optimal situation for a goalkeeper.
The three-goalie rotation is an interesting phenomenon in the NHL. Some of the teams, for example Carolina and Buffalo, have started the season clearly with three guards, although it is difficult to find a single goaltender who supports the practice in the puck universe.
Luukkonen makes no exception to this.
– You can’t train in that pattern. Usually, the playing goalkeeper reserves the second goal in the training sessions before the game day, so two goalies take turns in the second one. It leads to the fact that you don’t get the most out of your workout, because 45 minutes is already a long workout here.
– If you don’t get to play a lot, and you don’t get game-like things out of training, the pattern becomes difficult. On the other hand, you have to do extra on the ice, but even that is not the best situation for the body if you are constantly on the ice for long periods of time. That pattern does not work for the goalkeeper, and not really for the team, if there is a different guy in the goal all the time, Luukkonen sees.
A fierce attack
One way or another, Luukkonen himself has convincingly taken his own destiny into his own hands. After the illnesses in December, Luukkonen has risen to the top level he has known since November since Christmas Eve.
He has saved eight matches with a winning record of 5-2-1. The save percentage has been 93.7 and there are 1.62 goals conceded per match.
– It’s a good feeling when you get to play and there are a lot of players here with whom I’ve played for a long time. I know they trust me and that helps too. I’ve just been trying not to stress about anything.
It really seems that way, because Luukkonen previously played two consecutive clean sheets. The Ice Wolves kept their net untouched for almost 160 minutes.
– The clean sheets feel good, but more so the fact that we have defended really well and won games. Better than Zero Games is that I have been able to help the team win. However, expectations have already been set for this team for this season, Luukkonen points out.
Through equality to the elite
So Luukkonen is seriously breaking into the upper echelons of the NHL goalie market. In order to achieve the final breakthrough, Luukkonen is still aiming for consistency.
– Now we just have to continue at this level. Hopefully I will get a lot of starts and still be able to cement the position of the first guard. I want to strive for safe playing, where weak moments and easy goals would be few and far between. You mustn’t let yourself get too high or too low, no matter what.
– A new game always comes quickly, so basically how you played the last time doesn’t matter at all, Luukkonen’s line.