FINAL: BUF 3 TOR 1
SHOTS: BUF 23 TOR 44
POWER PLAY: BUF 1/1 TOR 1/3
HITS: BUF 41 TOR 36
BLOCKED SHOTS: BUF 20 TOR 11
GOALS:
BUF: Evander Kane (17) assisted by Sam Reinhart (23) and Jack Eichel (14)
BUF: Sam Reinhart (12) assisted by Kyle Okposo (19) and Jack Eichel (14)
BUF: Evander Kane (18) assisted by Jack Eichel (16) and Justin Falk (6)
TOR: Mitch Marner (15) assisted by Tyler Bozak (23) and Nikita Zaitsev (23)
LINES:
Bailey-O’Reilly-Okposo
Kane-Eichel-Reinhart
Foligno-Rodrigues-Gionta
Moulson-Grant-Ennis
McCabe-Ristolainen
Gorges-Kulikov
Falk-Fedun
Lehner
RECAP:
Justin Falk took a shot from the point and it went bar down and somehow it didn’t make it into the net.
Evander Kane fired the puck past Freddy Andersen for his 17th goal of the season and he gave Buffalo the early 1-0 lead. 2 years ago today the Sabres acquired Evander Kane from the Winnipeg Jets along with Zach Bogosian and Jason Kasdorf for Tyler Myers, Drew Stafford, Joel Armia, Brendan Lemieux, and a 1st round pick which ended up being Jack Roslovic.
Shortly after Kane’s goal, Jack Eichel was hooked by Jake Gardiner and the Sabres were heading to the power play. On that power play, the Sabres were able to get a 2 on 1 and Kyle Okposo fed the puck to Sam Reinhart who then put it past Andersen to put Buffalo up 2-0. Last time the Sabres faced the Leafs Buffalo also had a 2-0 lead to start the game but ended up losing 4-3.
Marcus Foligno destroyed Nikita Zaitsev and shortly after that Rasmus Ristolainen and James van Riemsdyk fought. JVR pretty much gave up right at the end of the fight.
The Sabres took another too many men on the ice penalty tonight. It’s actually mind boggling how many of these penalties that they take.
Late in the 1st period, Evander Kane scored again for his 18th goal of the season. Eichel passed him the puck and Kane fired it past Andersen. Kane now has back to back 2 goal games. Kane now has 11 points in his last 10 games and Jack Eichel has 8 points in his last 5 games.
https://twitter.com/NHLDaily365/status/830586522546077697
McCabe made a nice pass to Derek Grant to give him a partial breakaway but Grant wasn’t able to beat Freddy Andersen. It seems like Grant can’t even buy a goal at this point. He did score a goal in his stint in Nashville but the goal was disallowed.
Kyle Okposo blocked a Nazem Kadri shot and limped to the bench but he did return to the game.
Josh Gorges took a tripping penalty and the Leafs scored on their power play to cut the lead to 3-1. Mitch Marner tried a wrap around pass to Nazem Kadri but the puck deflected off of Rasmus Ristolainen and then Robin Lehner and then into the net. It would remain 3-1 going into the 3rd period.
The Leafs pulled Freddy Andersen at the end of the game and Derek Grant was robbed of his 1st NHL goal by Nikita Zaitsev.
The Sabres didn’t get much at all in the 3rd period. They didn’t have many scoring chances and were heavily outshot. They had to rely on Lehner to get this win tonight.
The Sabres will face the Vancouver Canucks tomorrow night in Buffalo.
