Dahlin scores hat trick, Sabres top Maple Leafs for 4th straight win

TORONTO -- Rasmus Dahlin scored his first NHL hat trick and had two assists for the Buffalo Sabres, who won their fourth straight game, 7-4, against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.

“I just love doing it with the boys here,” Dahlin said. “It’s such a fun thing to go to war with these guys. I think we’re doing such a good job to win tight games now. So, we just got to keep going.”

Tage Thompson had a goal and an assist, and Mattias Samuelsson had three assists for the Sabres (30-17-5), who are 19-3-1 since Dec. 9.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed two goals on five shots before leaving at 12:14 of the first period with a lower-body injury, which coach Lindy Ruff had no update on after the game. Colten Ellis made 16 saves in relief.

“I think we just have a confident group right now,” Samuelsson said. “They score first or we get down a goal or two in a game, I don't think there's any panic or anything. We just keep going to work. I think we have a pretty talented group that can score goals, so just stick with the game plan. Keep hunting pucks, keep getting after the other team, and good things will come. I don't think there's really much panic in this room.”

Auston Matthews and Max Domi each had a goal and two assists, Bobby McMann had a goal and an assist and Joseph Woll made 24 saves for the Maple Leafs (24-20-9), who went 0-4-1 on a five-game homestand.

“We look at scoring as everything and it’s not everything,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “You are not going to consistently win in this League by focusing on just scoring goals, you have to play the full rink and right now we are not doing a good enough job without the puck, that’s it.”

The Sabres thought they went up 1-0 at 3:52 of the first period, but the goal was disallowed after the Maple Leafs successfully challenged that the play was offside.

Matthew Knies then gave Toronto a 1-0 lead at 7:44 when he shoveled in a loose puck at the top of the crease.

Dahlin tied it 1-1 at 9:29, putting a puck on net that deflected in off the stick of Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly.

Matthews put the Maple Leafs back in front 2-1 at 10:49, backhanding the rebound of Domi’s shot past a sprawling Luukkonen.

Josh Doan tied it 2-2 at 13:16 with a power-play goal. His centering pass deflected off Toronto defenseman Troy Stecher’s stick just above the goal line past Woll’s glove.

“We had a decent start,” Knies said. “I thought their first few goals were lucky bounces. We kept it close but in the third we have to come out with better jump than that. We feel like we are trailing and chasing the game a little bit too much right now.”

Thompson put Buffalo ahead 3-2 at 18:05 when he shot high to the blocker side from above the right face-off circle with Zach Benson screening Woll at the top of the crease.

McMann tied it 3-3 at 11:17 of the second period. He collected the puck in the high slot after Matthews fanned and put a shot high to the blocker side.

Dahlin deflected a point shot from Samuelsson at the top of the crease at 18:17 to put the Sabres in front 4-3. The goal was his 400th NHL point.

“He made a couple great plays,” Ruff said. “He found the net tipping the puck in front. You don’t often see a D-to-D tip go in, which was a great play. The empty-netter to seal the game. I mean, 'Dahls' is finding his game right now. He feels good about his game. I think right now, he’s skating as well as he’s skated the whole year.”

Tuch stretched the lead to 5-3 just 16 seconds into the third period. After initially mishandling a pass from Thompson, Tuch recovered the puck, spun and shot over Woll’s right shoulder.

“I don’t know, it’s really no excuse,” Matthews said. “That can’t happen. Going into the third, we’re in a good position here, good spot down one goal, we just have to have more sense of urgency. We have to be a more desperate team than the opponent each night, especially with where we are at.”

Jack Quinn made it 6-3 at 11:33 when he skated into a flip pass from Dahlin and scored from outside the right hash marks.

Domi cut it to 6-4 at 14:59. He took a pass from Matthews, who was behind the net, and one-timed a shot in the slot past Ellis’ blocker.

Dahlin completed the hat trick when he shot into an empty net at 19:16 for the 7-4 final.

“If we want to make up ground in the standings and make a push here, we have to be desperate and I don’t think we’ve had that in our game enough,” Rielly said.

NOTES: Stecher played his 600th NHL game. ... Thompson played his 500th NHL game. ... Ruff said Jordan Greenway was held out of the lineup due to medical reasons pertaining to the sports hernia surgery he had in July.