Lehner has chance at history

20151229-lehner-dl-2

You wouldn’t know it with a quick look at his stats, but goaltender Robin Lehner has a chance to make some history this season.

He’s missed a big portion of the season after leaving the opening game of the season with an injury. Since his return in January, Lehner has been putting up impressive numbers.

He boasts a 2.32 goals against average and a .931 save percentage. Keep in mind that he’s only started 15 games this season, but his save percentage is higher than that of Thomas Greiss’ (.930) of the New York Islanders, who leads the league.

Now, Lehner isn’t eligible for the league lead because he hasn’t reached the minimum number of games, but with 19 games to go, he does have a chance to obtain those starts.

In order to be eligible by the end of the season, Lehner will need to have started a minimum of 26 games, meaning he only needs to start 11 of the final 19 for Buffalo. Well, that and him continuing to put up those solid numbers.

It’s not going to be easy, but if Lehner were to reach the minimum and finish with the highest save percentage, he’d be the first Sabres’ goaltender since Dominik Hasek to accomplish the feat.

“The Dominator” led the league six consecutive seasons from 1993-94 through 1998-99.

Here’s a look at what Lehner has done this season:

Robin Lehner game log
Date
Opponent
W/L
GA
Save %
10/13L4.833
10/16W2.939
10/18OL4.882
10/20L2.900
10/30W1.974
11/1W1.964
11/3L2.931
11/5W1.970
11/7L4.904
11/9SO1.966
11/12L4.852
11/15L4.900
11/17L4.895
11/21W2.935
11/23SO1.958
11/29W4.833
12/3L2.939
12/5OL3.909
12/9L4.893
12/13W3.909
12/16W2.943
12/20SO3.923
12/22L3.939
12/27W3.930
12/29L4.919
12/31L3.893
1/7W3.914
1/16W1.969
1/17L4.813
1/21W2.947
1/24W4.897
1/31L

Lehner has had his rough games this season, but he’s kept the opponent to two goals or less in 11 of 15 starts. Even with allowing four goals against the Penguins, Lehner has allowed just nine goals over the past six games. 

If he can keep putting up the numbers, he could sneak in and take the save percentage category by the end of the year. 

He’ll start tonight as the Sabres host the Edmonton Oilers

Kevin Freiheit
Kevin Freiheit
I founded Buffalo Hockey Central in 2008 and have poured hours and hours into this site. Luckily, we have a great team of writers and designers who have helped keep this up and running despite a ton of out-of-pocket costs. We do this because we enjoy it, and we're desperate to see the Sabres win the Cup someday, but they have to make the playoffs first.
[td_block_social_counter facebook="BuffaloHockeyCentral" twitter="BHCdotcom" custom_title="Follow BHC:" header_color="#002654" open_in_new_window="y"]