The Toronto Maple Leafs had a chance to make some headway in their race for the playoffs and instead stumbled in Buffalo in a 5-2 thumping at the hands of the Sabres.
Dmitry Kulikov had a goal in Sabres win over Leafs – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“We weren’t very good,” Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. “For whatever reason, they were quicker, they were better, they were hungrier. Obviously coming into the game I thought we had more to play for than they did. But pride is a wonderful thing, and if you get your group to dig in like they did tonight, they look good and we didn’t. So good for them, and obviously we’ve got to fix whatever. We weren’t good enough. Period.”
Jack Eichel struck twice for the Sabres as Buffalo improved to 31-32-12.
“We were able to capitalize on our power play,” Eichel said. “It’s nice to see we also shut them down in the third and stuck with our game plan; a good 60-minute effort.”
The Sabres are 10 points back of the Boston Bruins in the eastern race.
The Leafs are clear of the Bruins by a single point.
Ryan O’Reilly, Evander Kane and Dmitry Kulikov also scored for the Sabres.
“Great to see [Kulikov] do that,” Eichel said. “He makes a great play to me and puts it in my wheelhouse for a goal and then he lets a laser go. We know the type of player that he can be and the skill that he has. That’s shot’s a real weapon. He did a great job distributing the puck tonight.”
Robin Lehner made 32 saves for the win.
Auston Matthews scored his 34th of the season and Connor Brown scored for the Leafs.
WATCH: All Maple Leafs vs. Sabres highlights
Curtis McElhinney took the loss for the Leafs on 19 saves.
Frederik Andersen got the start for Toronto but left with an upper body injury.
“Obviously the other team’s doctor thought he should come out of the game, so he came out of the game,” Babcock said. “So once our doctor has seen him [Sunday] then I’ll have a better handle on what’s going on and I’ll be able to tell you.”
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