Sabres at Maple Leafs preview

SABRES (25-41-12) at MAPLE LEAFS (47-25-7)
7 p.m. ET; TSN4, MSG-B, NHL.TV

A victory will give Toronto 103 points, equaling the mark set in 2003-04.
Curtis McElhinney will make his second consecutive start for the Maple Leafs, who have won four of their past six games and 14 of their past 16 home games. Toronto is assured of finishing third in the Atlantic Division and will play either the Tampa Bay Lightning or Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference First Round.
The Sabres, who have won two of their past three games after going 1-5-1 in their previous seven, have been eliminated from of Stanley Cup Playoff contention. They have allowed at least four goals in five of their past seven.

Players to watch

Sabres forward Jack Eichel had an NHL career-high five assists in a 7-4 win against the Nashville Predators on Saturday. He has three goals and five assists during a three-game point streak.
Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews has four goals and four assists during a seven-game point streak.

They said it

"It's a good experience for us, we can take it and use it to our advantage tonight. We know we can come in here and win a hockey game if we do things the right way." -- Sabres forward Jack Eichel on trying to build off a 3-2 win against the Maple Leafs on March 26
"Identity, I think, is big. We want to be playing the best way we can play. Playing fast and making sure we don't limp into the playoffs, we want to be playing our best so these are important games." -- Maple Leafs forward Connor Brown on what Toronto wants to accomplish in its final three regular-season games

Sabres projected lineup

Zemgus Girgensons -- Jack Eichel -- Jason Pominville
Scott Wilson -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Sam Reinhart
Evan Rodrigues --
Casey Mittelstadt
-- Kyle Okposo
Benoit Pouliot -- Johan Larsson -- Nick Baptiste
Marco Scandella -- Rasmus Ristolainen
Brendan Guhle -- Justin Falk
Josh Gorges -- Casey Nelson
Chad Johnson
Adam Wilcox
Scratched: Jordan Nolan, Matt Tennyson
Injured:Zach Bogosian (lower body), Jake McCabe (shoulder), Jacob Josefson (lower body), Linus Ullmark (upper body), Robin Lehner (lower body), Victor Antipin (concussion)

Maple Leafs projected lineup

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

Status report

Sabres coach Phil Housley said Antipin is likely to miss the rest of the regular season. Lehner and Ullmark remain day-to-day. … Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said Dermott does not have a broken bone, that he is walking around and is expected to be "up and running in a couple of days."

Stat pack

Reinhart had a hat trick against the Predators and has five points (four goals, one assist) in his past four games. Ristolainen has four points, all assists, in his past two games. … Gardiner has five assists during a four-game point streak. … Marner had an 11-game point streak end in a 3-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday. He has 16 points (five goals, 11 assists) in his past 12 games.