Maple Leafs at Sabres preview

MAPLE LEAFS (39-21-7) at SABRES (20-34-11)
7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN4, NHL.TV

The Maple Leafs are 0-1-2 in their past three games and are coming off a 5-2 loss to the Washington Capitals in the 2018 Coors Light Stadium Series game Saturday. Toronto is in third place in the Atlantic Division, three points behind the Boston Bruins for second.
Chad Johnson will start for the Sabres, who are 2-1-0 in their past three games. Johnson has won his past two starts, which have come against the Bruins (4-1) and Tampa Bay Lightning (2-1).
Buffalo is 20 points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

Players to watch

Maple Leafs forward Mitchell Marner has 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in his past 11 games.
Sabres forward Sam Reinhart has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in his past 13 games.

They said it

"It's an opportunity for us to play a team we play four times and it's going to be important. They're going to play right, I can tell you that just from the pre-scout, and they're going to play hard and so we've got to be focused on starting right and starting fast."-- Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock
"Obviously there's a rivalry between us. …We're trying to measure up. These guys are a team that's regrouped and kind of had a lot of young guys come in and establish themselves and that's something we were looking to do and we fell behind. It's a good test for us."-- Sabres center Ryan O'Reilly

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Zach Hyman -- William Nylander -- Connor Brown
Patrick Marleau -- Nazem Kadri -- Mitchell Marner
James van Riemsdyk -- Tyler Bozak -- Kasperi Kapanen
Matt Martin -- Tomas Plekanec -- Leo Komarov
Morgan Rielly -- Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner -- Nikita Zaitsev
Travis Dermott -- Connor Carrick
Frederik Andersen
Curtis McElhinney
Scratched: Roman Polak, Dominic Moore, Josh Leivo
Injured: Auston Matthews (shoulder)

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Sabres projected lineup

Zemgus Girgensons -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Sam Reinhart
Scott Wilson -- Johan Larsson -- Jason Pominville
Jordan Nolan -- Jacob Josefson -- Kyle Okposo
Benoit Pouliot -- Kyle Criscuolo -- Nicholas Baptiste
Marco Scandella -- Rasmus Ristolainen
Brendan Guhle -- Casey Nelson
Nathan Beaulieu -- Victor Antipin
Chad Johnson
Robin Lehner
Scratched: Seth Griffith, Josh Gorges, Justin Falk
Injured:Evan Rodrigues (upper body), Jack Eichel (high-ankle sprain), Jake McCabe (shoulder), Zach Bogosian (hip)

Status report

The Maple Leafs had an optional skate. ... Andersen will start and Martin, who was a healthy scratch the past 18 games, will return to the lineup for the first time since Jan. 22. ... Eichel began skating on his own for the first time since he was injured Feb. 10. ... Guhle and Criscuolo were recalled from Rochester of the American Hockey League on Sunday.

Stat pack

The home team has won 24 of the past 30 games between the Sabres and Maple Leafs. Buffalo is 18-3-1 in its past 22 home games against Toronto.