Sabres earn 3rd straight victory with complete effort versus Leafs

Jack Eichel knew the stakes. So did Kyle Okposo and Jimmy Vesey and the rest of the Buffalo Sabres, who spoke in the days leading up to their meeting with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday about the anticipated emotion of a game that would be crucial to their hopes of clawing back into the playoff race.
They rose to the occasion. The Sabres turned in a dominant first period despite not scoring, parlayed that momentum into a two-goal lead in the second and, after the Maple Leafs tied the game in the third, responded with a barrage of goals from Eichel, Okposo, and Vesey to earn a 5-2 victory.
The Sabres will visit Ottawa on Tuesday having won three games in a row. A 10-game stretch coming off the All-Star break that began 1-3-1 ends 5-4-1, a sign of a team that is getting healthy and has no plans to quit.

"It was huge," Eichel said. "Every game for the rest of the year is going to be big for us. But it was the next one up on the schedule. They were coming off a back-to-back. We wanted to have a hard first period. I thought we just carried it through the game.
"We're starting to get the confidence going again in the room, and I think that's everything. You see we're getting contributions throughout the lineup."

Sabres coach Ralph Krueger said in the morning that, for the first time since the team left for Sweden in mid-November, he felt comfortable sending any of his four forward lines out against the top lines of an opponent. The returns of Victor Olofsson and Jeff Skinner plus the play of Curtis Lazar at center have given the team a balance up front its been striving for since early in the season.
That balance showed up on the scoresheet, with members of all four lines finding the back of the net. Johan Larsson and Conor Sheary scored Buffalo's first two goals in the second period, both off shots from the point by defenseman Colin Miller.
"There was a desperation today that we've been building something here this week at home," Krueger said. "This homestand began very disappointingly and we've fought and worked hard to get our game back after the break and get the bodies back and all that coming together here with these three wins in a row has certainly been built on a battle level, a compete level that is important this time of year."

The Sabres outshot the Maple Leafs, 16-6, in the first period. NaturalStatTrick.com had scoring chances in their favor, 21-6. Yet they left for the dressing room tied 0-0, thanks in part to a video review that ruled a wrap-around attempt by Vesey had not crossed the goal line after landing in the pad of goalie Frederik Andersen. Krueger felt camera angles showed the play was "clearly a goal."
Buffalo came out for the second period undeterred, earning a 2-0 lead on goals from Larsson and Sheary. The resiliency showed again following goals from the Maple Leafs' Egor Korshkov and Zach Hyman, the latter of which tied the game just 2:11 into the third.
The line of Lazar, Vesey, and Marcus Johansson turned in a shift that ended with a tripping call against Toronto's Jake Muzzin. Eichel buried a short-side shot on the ensuing power play, followed by goals from Okposo and Vesey within the next two minutes.

Carter Hutton did his part in net, stopping 20 of 22 shots for his fifth victory in his last six appearances.
"These are all signs of what we need to do," Krueger said. "This is a game you want to look at the details and speak with the team about what it takes to grind it out against a team like Toronto with the skill they have and the speed and that persistent offensive push that they have in their game."
The task ahead is still tall. The Sabres sit eight points behind the third-place Maple Leafs with one game in hand and 22 left to play. As Eichel said, every game from here on out is as big as this one was Sunday.
"We just got to win games, that's the bottom line," Okposo said. "We just have to trust the way we play every night it going to cause that. I think we've started to build a game here. Now we got to go win a huge in Ottawa on Tuesday."

Eichel embraces the rivalry (again)

At this point, it's no secret that Eichel enjoys playing the Maple Leafs. You can find evidence in the numbers - his career average of 8.24 goals per game against Toronto is the best of any active player (minimum five games played), surpassing Alexander Ovechkin.
Or, you can simply watch how he interacts with the Maple Leafs fans who visit KeyBank Center after scoring said goals. His latest celebration seemed to find the Sabres captain encouraging a couple in blue and white sweaters to stay seated, which he would neither confirm nor deny.

"You guys can make your own assumptions on it," Eichel said, smirking.
While Eichel's made a habit of rising to the occasion against Toronto, Krueger was more impressed with how he led the team through adverse stretches.
"Jack's compete level is high right now and he is leading this group in the right direction whether it's vocally after the disallowed goal or the 2-2 goal," Krueger said. "What happens on our bench right now is there's a maturing going on within the game that we don't lose our line and stick with it, and Jack's certainly at the forefront of that."

Okposo tallies point No. 500

He did it in style, too. Two defenders separated Okposo from the Toronto net when he carried the puck out of the defensive zone with a full head of steam in the third period. He had it in his mind to make the smart play and simply get the puck deep in the Leafs' end.
"Things things kind of progressed from there," he said. "I just saw the D was a little bit flat-footed and took advantage."
Okposo blew past Alexander Kerfoot in the neutral zone, poked the puck around Rasmus Sandin in the offensive zone, and roofed a shot as he cut alone across the net.

The goal turned momentum in Buffalo's favor, both in the crowd and on the ice.
"This rivalry is awesome," Okposo said. "It's only going to continue to grow. They've got a young team, as do we, and we're going to continue to fight to make it a playoff rivalry. … The fans that came out to support us are going to remember games like this."

Dahlin catches Bourque

Rasmus Dahlin tallied the 79th point of his career with the secondary assist on Larsson's goal, tying Ray Bourque for second-most points by a teenage defenseman in NHL history. Only Phil Housley, with 132, had more.

Dahlin now has 14 points (2G, 12A) in his last 15 games, including at least a point in four straight.

Up next

The Sabres visit the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday. Coverage on MSG begins at 7 p.m.