NHL Update: Buffalo Sabres snuck past Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-2
Drew Stafford lit the lamp twice and earned an assist, carrying Buffalo Sabres to a 6-2 victory over Toronto Maple Leafs, at HSBC Arena on Saturday night.
Thomas Vanek tallied a goal and assisted twice for Buffalo, which has won 13 of the previous 14 matches with Toronto and has also won seven straight contests against Maple Leafs in Buffalo.
Jason Pominville and Tim Connolly also found the net in the win, while Paul Gaustad totalled another goal for the victors.
Ryan Miller started between the pipes, turning aside 23-of-25 shots for buffalo, which has won third game in its previous four play-offs.
“I guess just 'cause the media's told me the record and they make a little bit of hype out of it," Miller said. "It mainly has to do with the fact that we really don't want their fans to
have a fun time coming to Buffalo."
James Reimer was dented for five goals on 30 shots and was pulled afterwards. He was replaced by Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who stopped 12 shots the rest of the way.
“I had a good game the other night and got the bounces, but tonight I needed to get a couple more saves, and I didn’t get the bounces,” Reimer said. “It’s a tough one, but those happen. I
and everybody else just have to be a little bit better.”
Francois Beauchemin and Nikolai Kulemin supplied offense for Toronto, which had its two-game win streak snapped.
Sabres dominated the play from the beginning by tallying the game's first four goals.
Buffalo notched 1-0 lead only 3 ½ minutes into the first period. After a battle to keep the puck in the zone, Vanek grabbed the disc and slipped a backhand pass across the slot that caromed
off a Maple Leafs defender and then trickled to Pominville, who slammed it past Reimer.
Just over two minutes later, with the Buffalo on a power play, Maple Leafs turned the puck over in their own zone. Jordan Leopold snatched the puck from Toronto defender and threw a sharp
pass from above the right circle to the left of the crease for Stafford, who buried it home with a one-timer to give Sabres a 2-0 lead.
Gaustad put Buffalo further ahead with three goal edge in the fifth minute of the middle frame, as he knocked in a shot from the right circle for his seventh goal of the season.
A little more than three minutes later, Buffalo pushed its lead to 4-0 on the power play and capitalized on a lack of Toronto defenders close to the cage. Only Luke Schenn stood in front
of the net with Reimer to provide offense, and Vanek easily sent a pass to Connolly, who smashed the puck home.
Finally, Maple Leafs showed some life and got on the board to make it 4-1 game with Kulemin's shorthanded goal just before the midway mark of the middle session.
However, Stafford recovered Buffalo’s four goal edge again with 5 ½ minutes to play in the second frame, as he ripped a wrist shot from the high slot into the net for his 17th goal of the
season.
“It was the same kind of game, but we kept ‘er going and scored more goals,” said Stafford
Reimer was pulled after middle stanza and Giguere replaced him at the start of the third.
Beauchemin cut the deficit to 5-2 for Maple Leafs with seven minutes remaining in the last period, but the deficit was too much for Maple Leafs to overcome.
Vanek capped the scoring 6-2 with an unassisted goal with 3 ½ minutes left in game and wrapped up the win.
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