In Toronto, Auston Matthews scored with 40 seconds left in extra time on Wednesday night to give the Maple Leafs a 2-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres. 
For Matthews, it was his 54th goal of the campaign.
“I just tried to find a quiet area there and Mitch (Mitchell Marner) made a really nice play obviously losing his guy a little bit,” Matthews said. “I just kind of got in between the two guys in front of the net and he made a beautiful pass to me, and I just tried to sneak it around the defenseman and by the goalie as soon as possible and I was lucky for it to go in.”
Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves in the win.
The Maple Leafs improved to 36-18-8, they have won 10 of their last 12 matches.
“We weren’t great tonight and didn’t move the puck very well and as a result didn’t generate much and when we did have opportunities to generate, I thought we overcooked it a little bit, tried to over-pass and didn’t shoot enough,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “But the last time we played these guys, we gave up nine so you can understand why the guys were a little gun-shy tonight and being a little more careful.”
After a scoreless opening stanza, William Nylander hit at 2:29 of the middle frame to stake the Maple Leafs to a 1-0 lead off a pass from Tyler Bertuzzi.
“That was a beautiful pass, he found me there all alone in the slot so that was a nice connection there,” Nylander said.
“They did a pretty good job. I thought we were a little too cute, could have maybe attacked the net more (throughout the game) but we won so.”
The Sabres dropped to 29-29-5.
“Yeah, I mean, obviously, they have some very highly skilled players over there, some of the best in the world so we had to manage the puck and try not to give them much because they’ll capitalize off those opportunities. We just wanted to play a mature game,” the Sabres’ Dylan Cozens said.
The Sabres replied with a strike by Victor Olofsson at 6:31, tying it, 1-1, headed to the third, which was also scoreless.
“I thought it was nice to get him in the lineup because he works hard,” Buffalo coach Don Granato said. “He is an absolute great person and a worker, and I talked to him before the game and I said, ‘Let’s communicate. I don’t want to put you in a bad spot, let’s see how you feel.’ And he looked at me with 100 percent confidence and said, ‘I’m ready to go.’ And, obviously, he was. That was a very big goal and very nice to see him persevere and cash in.”
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 25 saves in the loss.
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