The Toronto Maple Leafs will visit the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night in a clash of teams that just completed contrasting eight-game streaks.
The Maple Leafs snapped their eight-game losing streak (0-6-2) Thursday with a 6-4 home victory over the Anaheim Ducks despite losing Auston Matthews to a lower-body injury late in the second period.
Matthew Knies had a goal and three assists to help the Maple Leafs to their first win since the Olympic break, a stretch that has put them out of serious playoff contention.
The Sabres saw their eight-game winning streak end Thursday with a 2-1 home loss to the Washington Capitals on Jakob Chychrun’s goal at 18:27 of the third period. The streak propelled the Sabres into first place in the Atlantic Division.
Matthews was helped to the dressing room after a knee-on-knee hit by Radko Gudas, who was assessed a five-minute major for kneeing and a game misconduct. Matthews did not return with what the team said was a lower-body injury. He was to have an MRI on Friday afternoon.
Matthews scored five minutes before his injury to end a 12-game goalless drought, his longest since his rookie season in 2016.
There was no immediate physical response from the Maple Leafs to Gudas’ hit on their captain, but they did score two goals during the major penalty and pulled away from the Ducks in a chippy third period.
“We should have had four guys in there doing something about it, but it didn’t happen then,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “But I thought they responded in the third. It was a good response there. But we all would have liked everybody to get in there right away.”
In the final frame, the Maple Leafs showed emotion that has often been missing.
“It shows that you need passion, emotion in the game to be successful,” Berube said. “We all know that. They played with passion and emotion in the third period.”
How much of that carries over to Saturday could be a factor against the Sabres, who feel they learned a lesson from the loss to Washington.
“There’s really no one in this league you want to take lightly, no matter what the standings are,” said Sam Carrick, who scored Buffalo’s goal. “(Thursday) was a good lesson for us that every game is going to be big and teams are going to be gunning for us.”
The Sabres are in a tight race for first in the Atlantic with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens, who are two and four points behind, respectively.
“Every game from here on out, it’s going to be another level,” Buffalo forward Tage Thompson said. “The race gets tighter. The games start meaning more. Everyone’s fighting for points and position in the standings. We know that. We’re in the same position.
“I don’t think anyone in this room thinks that just because we’re first in the Atlantic right now (that) we’re safe, by any means. There are still a lot of hockey games to go, and that’s kind of what’s kept us steady right now.”
Sabres forward Alex Tuch did not play Thursday because of a lower-body injury picked up in a 6-3 win over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.
The Sabres have won two of three against the Maple Leafs this season.
