HAMILTON, Ont – What should have been a fun, outdoor event for the Toronto Maple Leafs turned into a display of petulance, frustration, and anxiety.
The Maple Leafs were hosting the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday in the Heritage Classic, and for the world, the “W” should have been a gimme.
The game entered the third period after both teams posted two goals in the middle frame.
Buffalo’s Vinnie Hinostroza, who hit for a double, snapped the tie in the third enroute to a 5-2 win for the Sabres.
“It’s been a special weekend having my son here and my wife here,” Hinostroza said. “It’s really special, being able to chip in and help the team win. Obviously we got the win, that’s the biggest thing. There’s so many distractions this weekend with family over and everyone at the hotel enjoying themselves, but our team did a great job putting that in the background and coming in and realizing we have a big game to win here. I’m really proud of our team.”
Craig Anderson made 34 saves in the Buffalo win.
“The main thing from the goalie perspective was the elements with the cold temperatures, you’ve got the (skaters’) sticks [that] don’t have the same flex,” Anderson said. “They don’t have the same bounce off of them. There’s a little bit of an advantage for the goalie, and then the other element we had to deal with was the wind going from one direction versus the other. Shots coming at the net going one way were a little bit quicker going the other way. That was kind of my observation of the elements to
Ondrej Kase scored for Toronto in the middle frame for a 1-0 lead.
Auston Matthews put the Leafs up 2-1, after Peyton Krebs tied it at 1-1 for the Sabres.
Krebs had two strikes in the game, his second pushed the Sabres advantage to 4-2 in the third period.
“Every night you’re playing a good team,” Toronto’s Morgan Rielly said. “There is no such thing as an off night in this league. Teams are hungry, guys are playing for contracts, there’s lots going on, so I don’t think there’s ever a night off. We talk about all the right things in the room prior to these games. … But teams come out and play us hard, so it’s on us to respond. I don’t think that’s an issue for us long term, but obviously right now it’s been tough sledding.”
Sabres moved to 20-32-8.
The game was marred by an ugly cross check by Matthews to the chin of the Sabres’ Rasmus Dahlin resulting in retaliation and secondary retaliation.
“I think defensively tonight, some of those tonight were unlucky bounces,” Matthews said. “Defensively, we’ve improved in some areas we wanted to clean up and then maybe some areas [that] weren’t lacking before are kind of slipping.”
Tage Thompson scored a shorthanded, empty-net goal for the 5-2 final.
“Vinnie’s an awesome guy,” Krebs said. “Every night he brings it. It’s nice to see him get rewarded for that today, for sure. Good patience there, good play. All I had to do was hit the net. He was great for us tonight. It’s exciting.”
Petr Mrazek made 33 saves in the Maple Leafs loss.
“I thought Petr was good, he made some saves today,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “It’s not an easy environment to play in, especially for a goalie. I thought he made some good saves. Nothing he could do on the first one, nothing he could do on the second, we put it in our own net, it was a funny bounce.”
“I think he looked solid all things considered with the environment and everything like that.”
Matthews will have a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety on Monday.
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