If the Buffalo Sabres want to be among the HL’s contenders, they need to beat real contending teams.
On Saturday night, they failed that test in a 5-2 loss to the Maple Leafs in Toronto.
The Leafs’ John Tavares and Mitchell Marner had three points each with a goal and two assists apiece. 
“I think we knew we were a lot better than the way we played (on Thursday in a 6-1 loss at the New York Islanders),” Tavares said. “We had a good day away from the rink on Friday, got some energy back and just tried to put the puck in deep and really try to wear them down and play a lot more in the offensive zone. We were a lot smarter with the puck through the neutral zone, especially with their transition game and the skilled guys they have.”
Frederik Andersen made 35 saves and shut the Sabres down after yielding two goals in the first period to Jason Pominville and Conor Sheary.
“I’m not going to beat around the bush, it’s disappointing we didn’t get the result,” Sabres coach Phil Housley said. “We didn’t meet our standard tonight. But I like the way we played in the third period. I mean, these guys have fought and battled together, fought for each other in the third period. We get one goal, it changes the complexion of the game. But the bottom line is we just didn’t get the result at this time of the year.”
Buffalo dropped to 30-27-8.
Nic Petan scored a goal as he made his debut with the Leafs after being acquired from the Winnipeg Jets in a trade.
“It felt great. There’s obviously improvement that needs to be made in the rest of my game, but it felt good to be out there again and the goal was a cherry on top,” Petan said. “It was an unreal pass. I just was yelling super loud and when we got back to the bench [Moore] said, ‘good yell,’ and it was a phenomenal pass. I didn’t really think about it too much, I just smacked it and it went in.”
Nikita Zaitsev and Morgan Rielly also scored for Toronto.
“I think we started from the first period and played the game we wanted to, and when we got down we didn’t turn the puck over or get desperate,” Marner said. “We played the game we wanted to and knew it was going to come eventually.”
The Leafs improved to 40-21-4.
[WATCH: All Sabres vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
Linus Ullmark made 27 saves in the loss.
“They’re a good team, good rivalry, for sure. I’ve been fortunate to be on the good side of things for a while. But we got to find a way to get that hate a little bit more, especially at home. We got to find a way to win a game against this team,” Pominville said.
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