The Maple Leafs lost their third straight, falling to the Sabres 5-3 Friday night in Buffalo.
Sporting their good luck, “goathead” uniforms, the suddenly hot Sabres took an early first-period lead against the Maple Leafs. Just under five minutes in, Ryan McLeod drove to the net, spun, and centred a beautiful pass to Buffalo defenceman Matthias Samuelsson, who fired the puck past Leaf goaltender Anthony Stolarz to make 1-0.
Toronto responded quickly, 23 seconds after falling behind, Oliver Ekman-Larson sprung William Nylander with a stretch pass, and the winger managed to sneak one through Sabres’ goalie Alex Lyon’s pads on the breakaway to tie the game 1-1.
The Sabres reclaimed the lead about a minute later when Jiri Kuhlich beat Stolarz off a nice backhand feed from Zach Benson, putting Buffalo on top, 2-1. The Leafs fought back and, on the man advantage, tied the game after Auston Matthews finished a tic-tac-toe pass play, Ekman-Larsson to Tavares to the captain, who one-timed the puck past Lyon at the 12:45 mark.
The first ended 2-2, but the second period was all Sabres. Buffalo’s Tage Thompson scored his second of the season off a give-and-go with Bowem Bryram at 7:20 to make it 3-2, and Samuelsson scored his second of the game at 13:10 to extend the Sabres’ lead 4-2 going into the third period.
Toronto made a push in the final frame. Dakota Joshua scored his first of the season and first as a Maple Leaf 1:55 into the period. Easton Cowan and Nicholas Roy assisted. Roy battled for the puck behind the Sabres’ net, flipped it in front, and both Cowan and Joshua dug away at it until it finally reached the back of the net. Joshua’s goal cut the deficit to 4-3.
The Leafs caught a break with 4:37 left in the game when Rasmus Dahlin’s errant clearing attempt went over the glass for a delay of game penalty, giving Toronto a late power-play. But it was the Sabres who cashed in. After goalie Alex Lyon robbed Matias Maccelli on one end, Owen Power intercepted a pass fed Alex Tuch for a shorthanded goal on the other end with 3:01 left to make the final score 5-3.
The loss dropped the Leafs to 3-4-1 on the season.
Toronto finishes up its home-and-home against Buffalo tomorrow night at the Scotiabank Arena.
