The Toronto Maple Leafs will hope to rebound from a sluggish end to an early-season homestand as they visit the Buffalo Sabres for the first half of a weekend back-to-back on Friday night.
The Leafs are smarting from a 5-2 loss at the hands of former head coach Sheldon Keefe and the New Jersey Devils, leaving them firmly in the Atlantic Division’s mushy middle. Toronto surrendered four of the five goals in the second period.
“I just don’t think we’re managing the game the way that we need to — just the way we need to invest shift after shift, wearing opponents down,” alternate captain John Tavares said after the game.
With Joseph Woll on an indefinite leave of absence, goaltender Anthony Stolarz has been left between the pipes on all but one occasion thus far. The netminder has been rather outspoken about his defense’s struggle to protect the crease early on.
In a play startlingly similar to Vince Dunn’s goal against the Leafs on Oct. 18, defenseman Chris Tanev pushed Devils winger Ondrej Palat into Stolarz as Jack Hughes’ wrist shot sailed into the net. Head coach Craig Berube unsuccessfully challenged what was the first of three unanswered New Jersey goals over the course of three and a half minutes.
“I was kind of fighting for the puck,” Stolarz said. “I kind of didn’t know who hit me or who bumped me.”
The result marked Toronto’s second consecutive loss after they fell to the Seattle Kraken last Saturday. The Leafs dropped their only away game so far this season when they fell 6-3 to the Detroit Red Wings on Oct. 11.
The Sabres will have the opportunity to leapfrog them in the standings after a 4-2 win over the Red Wings on Wednesday night. Goaltender Colten Ellis, whom Buffalo claimed off waivers from the St. Louis Blues earlier in the month, stopped 27 of 29 shots in his NHL debut.
“It was just 25 years to kind of get to this point,” Ellis said in an interview with TNT after the game. “To kind of realize my dream tonight and get a win and two points for the team, it’s pretty incredible.”
The Sabres will hope for another positive performance out of 24-year-old forward Jack Quinn, who shares the team lead in points after seven games played with youngsters Josh Doan and Zach Benson. It was Quinn who scored the go-ahead goal and added two assists to tie his career high with a three-point performance.
“The biggest thing I’m trying to focus on is getting myself looks and playing on the inside, getting those shots,” Quinn said.
After blasting eight goals past the Ottawa Senators and blanking the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, the Sabres have now won three of their last four games.
The teams’ Friday and Saturday clashes have been rescheduled so as to accommodate the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series. Friday night’s game in Buffalo will begin at 7 p.m. ET instead of the original 7:30.
Toronto defenseman Chris Tanev has been placed on injured reserve after an upper-body injury against the Devils, while Scott Laughton has reportedly resumed skating. Buffalo’s Jason Zucker is a question mark after exiting the game against Detroit in the second period.
