{"id":307345,"date":"2026-05-09T06:58:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T06:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/307345\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T06:58:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T06:58:24","slug":"lyons-fiery-demeanor-fuels-sabres-surge-into-2nd-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/307345\/","title":{"rendered":"Lyon’s fiery demeanor fuels Sabres surge into 2nd round"},"content":{"rendered":"

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 It wasn\u2019t satisfying enough for Buffalo Sabres<\/a> goalie Alex Lyon to have Viktor Arvidsson\u2019s penalty shot glance off his blocker and deflect wide of the net.<\/p>\n

Lyon decided to pile on the forward’s grief. He began chirping a few words at Arvidsson following the failed attempt that prevented the Boston Bruins from building on a 1-0 lead in Buffalo’s eventual 3-1 win in Game 3<\/a> of their first-round playoff series.<\/p>\n

The moment and Lyon\u2019s response, coming in his first career playoff start for Buffalo, captured the fearless and competitive approach the 33-year-old goalie has developed over a journeyman career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when you\u2019re young, it\u2019s easy to get intimidated by the moment,\u201d Lyon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut once you start thinking about it in terms of the game, it\u2019s about wining and losing at the end of the day. And that\u2019s the only thing I\u2019m trying to do,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s just gamesmanship.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an attitude that\u2019s earned Lyon the starting duties in taking over after Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen struggled in a 4-2 loss in Game 2 loss to Boston. Lyon’s gone 4-1 since, including a 26-save outing in a 4-2 win in Buffalo\u2019s second-round series’ opener<\/a> against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Lyon posting elite numbers in playoffs<\/p>\n

Entering Game 2 on Friday night, Lyon\u2019s 1.3 goals-against average and .950 save percentage rank second among players with five or more starts this postseason. And it follows Lyon’s first Sabres season in which he went 20-10-4 splitting the starting duties and helping the Buffalo end an NHL-record 14-year playoff drought<\/a> and win its first Atlantic Division title.<\/p>\n

Very little appears to rattle Lyon. Or rather, the goalie said, he does his best to hide it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about perception,\u201d Lyon said. \u201cIt probably dawned on me five or six years ago, that if you just continue to keep pushing through the bad times, it will always turn around for the better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The philosophy has carried him through a nine-year pro career spanning five NHL teams.<\/p>\n

Lyon is relentless in refusing to give up on plays even when out of position, and included him doing a near-somersault to get from one post to the other and get a piece of Morgan Geekie\u2019s shot in the first round. Add in his engaging and upbeat personality, and Lyon has endeared himself to his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really love guys like that, hates to lose and wants their opponents to look bad. I really feed off that,\u201d captain Rasmus Dahlin said. \u201cHe loves big moments. That\u2019s when he thrives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coach Lindy Ruff called Lyon\u2019s approach \u201cinfectious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery goalie has their own personality, and his personality has a lot of fire in it. He\u2019s a character and it\u2019s something the group likes,\u201d Ruff said. \u201cI don\u2019t even know if I\u2019ve seen him have a bad day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lyon admits to having plenty of bad days. But they come with territory, much like accepting he\u2019s not going to stop every shot.<\/p>\n

From Baudette, Minnesota, Lyon was an undrafted free-agent out of Yale upon signing with the Philadelphia Flyers. He went 6-7-2 in five years in Philadelphia, and split the next four seasons between Carolina, Florida and Detroit, where he went 35-27-6 over two seasons.<\/p>\n

He went 1-2 in four playoff appearances with Florida\u2019s Stanley Cup Final-losing team in 2023, though Lyon was only filling in for injured starter Sergei Bobrovsky.<\/p>\n

Drawing upon minor league experience<\/p>\n

San Jose Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky saw many of the same qualities when coaching Lyon with the American Hockey League’s Chicago Wolves in 2021-22. The 29-year-old went 9-3 in leading the Wolves to win the Calder Cup championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid not want to give up the net,\u201d Warsofsky told The Associated Press by phone Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not, obviously, an easy league to play in, but every day he was the same guy,” he added. \u201cIt just shows you that everyone develops a little bit differently on different timelines, and sometimes you need an opportunity and he\u2019s gotten a really good opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lyon fondly reflects upon his past by saying playing for numerous teams at various levels helped him learn more about himself. And breaking into the NHL as an older player after years in the minors were lessons in maintaining confidence, adapting to riding the highs and lows, and learning to put team success first.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really difficult as a young player to not get caught up in the day to day and thinking about production,\u201d Lyon said. \u201cThe less you think about that, the less you worry about that, the better things are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 It wasn\u2019t satisfying enough for Buffalo Sabres goalie Alex Lyon to have Viktor Arvidsson\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[6632,5167,65547,2064,100,1608,88,90,89,127],"class_list":["post-307345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-app-sports","tag-associated-press","tag-buffalo","tag-buffalo-sabres","tag-news","tag-rochester","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}