Sabres goalie Robin Lehner submits the NHL’s first save of the year candidate

Robin Lehner isn’t the first goalie that comes to mind when you think of elite NHL netminders, but that doesn’t mean he can’t make an elite save now and again.

It’s hard to believe we’ve gone a full month on the NHL calendar without a “WHAT LOOK AT THIS” save, but Lehner delivered the goods on Saturday in Ottawa. Jean-Gabriel Pageau screamed down the wing, deked through a defender and looked like he had Lehner beat on the backhand.

Nope.

Ridiculous. Lehner’s actually enjoying a decent year with the Sabres so far, with a 3-3-1 record, a 2.30 goals against average and a .922 save percentage. Buffalo isn’t quite there yet defensively, so they’ll need him to keep making these kinds of saves throughout the year. So far, so good.