In Toronto, the Buffalo Sabres lost their eighth straight game on Saturday. This time it was a 5-2 loss to the Maple Leafs.
“We were really good through the neutral zone, we didn’t really force too many plays,” Toronto’s Mitchell Marner (two assists) said. “When there were plays to be made, we made them, but we didn’t force anything. I thought we did a great job of keeping with their speed and sticking through the neutral zone and being tough to get through as a unit with them coming at us with the puck in their hands.”
William Nylander hit for a double in the Maple Leafs win.
Matt Murray made 32 saves in the Toronto win.
The Leafs imp[roved to 10-5-4.
Toronto took a 3-0 lead in the first period on goals from John Tavares (power play), Calle Jarnkrok, and Mark Giordano.
The Sabres got a little life from a strike by Alex Tuch midway through the second period.
Buffalo dropped to 7-11-0.
“I do think it boils down to compete,” Buffalo coach Don Granato said. “We didn’t have enough guys competing hard enough at the start. Rasmus Dahlin, Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens are three guys that stick out to me as tremendous competitive players each and every night. They were very competitive tonight, but we didn’t have enough with them early, and that was the difference. For us, the last few games that’s been the case, and things will resolve a lot sooner with more guys competing at a higher level.”
Nylander scored his pair to give the Maple Leafs a 5-1 advantage.
“Last year we had some issues against Buffalo (1-3-0), so it was nice to get back on the right track from the beginning of the season against them,” Nylander said.
Buffalo’s Casey Mittelstadt scored off the power play at 15:07 of the third to make the 5-2 final.
“When you come out and play really strong and you don’t capitalize on some opportunities, it can get a little frustrating,” Tuch said. “Just being able to stay on it, I guess we just kind of let off and they’re a team that is going to capitalize on mistakes and momentum. They’re a really good team, a lot of skill guys over there. They beat us straight up, flat out tonight.”
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 18 saves in the Sabres loss.
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