At The Final Horn | Sabres rally back but fall in regulation to Toronto

It had been 636 days since the Buffalo Sabres last faced the Toronto Maple Leafs and the two teams played a back-and-forth affair that wasn't decided until the final moments.
Morgan Rielly scored with 11.8 seconds left in regulation as the Sabres were defeated 5-4 on Saturday at KeyBank Center.
Jeff Skinner scored twice for Buffalo while Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin also tallied. Aaron Dell made 21 saves in his Sabres debut.
Skinner (2+1) recorded his third multi-point game of the season and he posted his first three-point game since November 3, 2018.
David Kampf, Ondrej Kase and Michael Bunting were Toronto's other goal scorers. Joseph Woll won in his NHL debut, stopped 23 shots.
Buffalo battled back from a 4-2 deficit in the third period to tie things up midway through the period, but couldn't get the game to overtime.
The Sabres' power play went 0-for-2 and the penalty kill was 1-for-1.

How it happened

The Maple Leafs scored on what was credited as their first shot of the game. A loose puck in front slid under Dell's pads and over the goal line to make it 1-0 just 2:43 in. Kampf was the last Toronto player to touch it.
Toronto did not record their second shot on goal until there was 9:20 remaining in the first period. Buffalo held a 6-1 edge in shots to that point.
Skinner tied things up with 5:28 remaining when a shot bounced off the end boards, around the net and right to Skinner at the left wing faceoff circle. Skinner made no mistake for his fourth of the year.

Toronto regained the lead 7:18 into the second period when Kase's shot beat Dell short side.
And just 1:10 later, Bunting made it 3-1.
Thompson put Buffalo back within one when he rocketed a one-timer from Skinner to make it 3-2 with 2:27 left in the second.
Toronto went up a pair when Tavares tipped in a point shot on the power play at the 9:22 mark of the third period.
The Sabres battled back right away. With 9:13 left, Thompson picked off a clearing attempt and dished it to Skinner, who buried it for his second of the night.

Then 59 seconds later, Dahlin's shot from the blue line found its way past Woll to tie things up.

However, Rielly's shot from long range beat Dell high to win the game and give Toronto two points.

Roll the highlight film

Here's Thompson's goal:

Worthy of a mention

Before the game, Rick the team dog met his namesake, Hall of Fame play-by-play announcer Rick Jeanneret. We're happy to report it was a success:

Rick also received some ear scratches from general manager Kevyn Adams:

We've got the best boy for a team dog.
Dominik Hasek was also at the game. Beforehand, he joined Martin Biron from Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino for a segment on the pregame show:

And then Hasek met up with Alex Tuch later on:

Coming up

The Sabres' next game is Tuesday night in Pittsburgh. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. from PPG Paints Arena on MSG and WGR 550. Pregame coverage will begin at 6:30.
The Sabres and Penguins are partnering to host a joint Pride Game. The game aims to bring together two cities to celebrate LGBTQ+ communities by sharing stories of inclusion, hope and allyship.
Click here for more details.