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The Buffalo Sabres two-game winning streak was snapped in Montreal on Monday, as third-period goals by Juraj Slafkovsky and Lane Hutson catapulted the Canadiens to a 4-2 victory at the Bell Centre. Sabres goalie Alex Lyon made 27 saves in his six consecutive start and it is likely that the veteran netminder will make his seventh straight start against his former club, the Detroit Red Wings, at Key Bank Center on Wednesday. 

The Sabres have a number of interesting situations ongoing with their netminders. At the NHL level, the club will have their first back-to-back this weekend against the Toronto Maple Leafs, which could mean that rookie Colten Ellis will make his first NHL start in one of the games, but the club has three goalies with NHL experience currently on the roster of the AHL Rochester Americans.  

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On Tuesday, the club demoted goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to the Amerks on a conditioning stint. The Sabres starter has played one period in a preseason and returned to practice last week, so the club undoubtedly wanted to get him some game action. Rochester hosts Syracuse on Wednesday, as part of a stretch of three games in four nights. 

After demoting Scott Ratzlaff to ECHL Jacksonville, the Amerks have four goalies in Luukkonen, Devon Levi, Alexandar Georgiev, and 2022 second-rounder Topias Leinonen on their roster. Levi has started and won two games, while Leinonen and Georgiev have started one game and lost. 

A conditioning stint is normally two weeks, but if the Sabres are looking to get Luukkonen back as quickly as possible, they could start him once and recall him to play one of the games against the Leafs this weekend, but what then happens with Ellis, who has only practiced since being claimed off of waivers from St. Louis earlier this month. It is possible that GM Kevyn Adams will carry three goalies on the NHL roster and not risk trying to sneak Ellis through waivers, but that will come at the cost of less depth in other areas.  

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