Postgame Report | Sabres’ late rally falls short against Toronto

Jack Quinn, Alex Tuch, and Jeff Skinner all scored third-period goals, but the Sabres were unable to overcome an early deficit in a 6-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs inside KeyBank Center on Tuesday.

Ryan O’Reilly, playing his third game with Toronto since being acquired in a trade with St. Louis, scored twice in a span of 37 seconds to ignite a four-goal, 16-shot first period for the Maple Leafs. John Tavares (1+2) and Mitchell Marner (0+3) had three points each in the period. 

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed four goals on 10 shots in 12:09. Craig Anderson stopped 17 of 18 in relief. 

“This was not on UPL just so we’re clear on that,” Sabres coach Don Granato said. “That change was made because we didn’t have the start. They had jump at the start and we didn’t. It was one of those nights where you could see we weren’t processing things well. I thought that was the case through the entire game. We didn’t look sharp.”

The Sabres outshot the Maple Leafs 24-13 over the final 40 minutes but were held off the board until Quinn buried a wrist shot at 5:12 of the third period. Tage Thompson had a chance to bring the Sabres within one late in the period, but his shot from the slot deflected out of play.

O’Reilly scored an empty-net goal to complete a hat trick and end the Sabres’ comeback bid with 1:10 to play. Marner finished the game with five assists and Tavares wound up with four points (1+3).

“We’re down four – at that point, the necessity is to fight and compete,” Granato said. “We cannot compromise that. I don’t think we did compromise that even though there wasn’t a guy out there that looked like themselves and didn’t fight it tonight. That’s the way I feel about it. You have to [move on] as quick as you can.”

Video: Condensed Game: Maple Leafs @ SabresHow it happened

PERIOD 1

The Maple Leafs scored four goals in a span of 8:18, the first two of which were scored 37 seconds apart by O’Reilly. The former Sabres forward dashed down the left side and buried a one-timer from Marner, then got behind the defense and roofed a backhand shot on the very next shift.

Tavares buried a rebound off a Marner shot for Toronto’s third goal. Michael Bunting scored on a wrist shot from the left circle to make it 4-0 with 7:51 remaining in the period. 

Anderson entered for Luukkonen following Bunting’s goal and made seven saves. The Maple Leafs finished the period with a 15-8 advantage in shots.  PERIOD 2

The Sabres responded by controlling possession for much of the middle period but were unable to solve Samsonov, whose 11-save period included a stop on Thompson from the right circle and a one-timer taken from the slot by Henri Jokiharju. 

Shots were 8-3 in favor of the Sabres when Jacob Bryson was called for tripping with 5:49 remaining. William Nylander scored for the Maple Leafs on the ensuing power play.

PERIOD 3

Quinn buried a wrist shot from the right circle to put the Sabres on the board 5:12 into the period. 

Video: TOR@BUF: Quinn trims Sabres’ deficit in 3rd period

The Sabres continued to push, earning a 13-6 edge in shots in the period. Tuch burst behind the defense and buried a wrist shot for the Sabres’ second goal, the 100th of his NHL career. Skinner added a wrist shot on the rush with 3:31 remaining before O’Reilly ended the comeback bid with his empty-net goal.

Video: TOR@BUF: Tuch trims Sabres’ deficit in 3rd period

“We pushed them back, made them a little bit hesitant, put pucks deep and got a lot of shots on net,” Rasmus Dahlin said. “But we got to do it earlier and we’re ready for the next one.”

What we learned

1. The Sabres remain four points behind Florida for the second Wild Card spot with five games in hand. Here are the standings after Tuesday’s action, which included a regulation win for Detroit at Washington:

TeamGPPointsPoints %Regulation Wins WC1 – New York Islanders 60 65 .542 25 WC 2 – Florida Panthers 60 64 .533 25 Pittsburgh Penguins 56 63 .563 22 Detroit Red Wings 56 62 .554 21 Washington Capitals 59 62 .525 22 Buffalo Sabres 55 60 .545 21 Ottawa Senators 56 58 .518 20

2. Tuch, a member of four playoff runs during his tenure with Vegas, emphasized the importance of not carrying the loss forward. The Sabres visit another pair of Eastern Conference contenders in Tampa Bay and Florida on Thursday and Friday.

“We’ve got to take away our pushback and look at our third period and see how we can play against a team that’s high up in the standings and we’ve got to be ready, because we’ve got a tough stretch coming up,” he said. “We’ve got to be ready every night.”

Video: POSTGAME: Tuch

3. Mittelstadt earned the primary assist on Quinn’s goal, giving him six points (2+4) in his last five games.

4. Dahlin, Skinner, Thompson, and Tuch all extended their point streaks to four games. 

Up next

The Sabres play back-to-back games in Florida beginning Thursday night against the Lightning. Coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. The puck drops at 7 on MSG and WGR 550.