The Sabres emerged victorious against the Toronto Maple Leafs by a 5-2 score this evening at KeyBank Center in what was arguably their most complete victory of the season. Coming off of three days of rest, the Sabres looked like a rejuvenated unit as they out-played their northern rivals in a fantastic sixty-minute effort. With the Maple Leafs hanging onto a three point lead in the Eastern Conference playoff race, this game may very well have been the most crucial matchup between these two squads in a decade.
Ryan O’Reilly got the scoring started at 7:05 in the first period, notching his 18th tally of the season, tapping in an excellent pass through the crease by Tyler Ennis. Toronto responded quickly less than three minutes later when Connor Brown scored unassisted on a wrist shot from point black range in front of Robin Lehner. The tie game would be extremely short lived. Evander Kane capitalized on a rebound from a Zach Bogosian slap shot from the point. Leading up to the goal, Kane had two other opportunities where he just missed getting the puck past Frederick Andersen. The goal was Kane’s team-leading 26th of the season at 9:45. The Sabres out-shot the Maple Leafs 16-11 in the period.
Curtis McElhinney would start the second period in net for the Toronto. Starting goalie Frederick Andersen left the game with an upper body injury and did not return. Despite losing their star netminder, Toronto wasted no time getting themselves back in the contest. Rookie sensation Auston Matthews scored his 34th goal of the season at 2:22 in the middle frame. The goal tied a franchise record for most goals by a rookie. It took the Sabres a mere fifteen seconds to regain the lead on their first power-play opportunity of the game, when Jack Eichel hammered home a laser past McElhinney for his 22nd of the season. The Sabres took that momentum and ran with it for the remainder of the period. In his 500th NHL game, Dmitry Kulikov would increase the lead to two at 5:59 with a cannon shot from the point, making the Sabres a perfect two-for-two with the man advantage on the evening. Buffalo continued to pepper the struggling McElhinney with shots for the remainder of the period, and eventually broke through again for their third goal of the period at 13:12 on Eichel’s second goal of the game. Eichel lined up an effortless wrist-shot from the right faceoff circle, beating the Leafs’ goaltender glove side.
The third period took an already physical affair to a new level with several big hits and behind-the-scenes scraps until the final horn. Robin Lehner closed out a perfect period, stifling several opportunities for Toronto to get themselves back in the contest. Lehner saved 32 of 34 shots faced continuing an extremely impressive stretch as of late.
Buffalo is in an interesting position as they approach the close of the season. Though they are well out of the playoff picture, the Sabres need to string together strong performances like these to build momentum for next season. If this game was any indication of what we will see moving forward as these two young teams continue to build and improve, then fans are in for a historic rivalry. It will be incredibly exciting to see a game like this when both teams are in contention in the future.
The Sabres continue their homestand on Monday as they take on the Florida Panthers at KeyBank Center. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.