The Toronto Maple Leafs look to string together consecutive victories for the first time this season when they visit the KeyBank Centre in Buffalo on Thursday night (7 p.m. EST, Sportsnet Ontario).
Victories in Buffalo have been difficult to come by for the Leafs historically and even during the Sabres’ recent lean seasons. The Leafs haven’t won in Buffalo since January of 2013 and have lost in 10 of their last 11 trips down the QEW.
After a poor start to the season, the 4-3-2 Sabres enter the game riding three consecutive victories in which they’ve conceded just two goals total. Buffalo’s recent form has moved them up into seventh in the league in goals against per game (2.33) through nine games and they’re currently allowing the third fewest shots per game on average (27.0/game). Expected starter Robin Lehner has stopped 82 of 86 shots in goal (.953 SV%) over his last three starts.
Despite their ability to suppress shots on goal early in the season, the Sabres are the worst 5v5 possession team by raw CF% (they move up to 22nd adjusting for score and venue). With Evander Kane and Jack Eichel sidelined by injuries, the Sabres are also scoring just 2.44 goals per game (22nd in the NHL). Ryan O’Rielly currently paces Buffalo in scoring with eight points in nine games while offseason addition Kyle Okposo and third-year defenceman Rasmus Ristolainen have seven in eight. After a 33-point season in 2015-16, captain Brian Gionta is enjoying a resurgent start to the year with six points in nine games, while Matt Moulson — on the heels of a miserable eight-goal season in 2015-16 — has four goals to start the year.
There will be no Jack Eichel vs. Auston Matthews or William vs. Alex Nylander storylines to spice things up, but Leafs games in Buffalo always make for a fun environment as Toronto fans travel well for the cheap nearby ticket options.
No lineup changes are expected from the Leafs‘ 3-2 overtime win over Edmonton. More to come as the day progresses.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
Leo Komarov – Nazem Kadri – Connor Brown
van Riemsdyk – Tyler Bozak – Mitch Marner
Zach Hyman – Auston Matthews – William Nylander
Matt Martin – Ben Smith – Nikita Soshnikov
Defencemen
Morgan Rielly – Nikita Zaitsev
Jake Gardiner – Roman Polak
Martin Marincin – Connor Carrick
Scratched: Seth Griffith, Frank Corrado, Peter Holland
Injured: Matt Hunwick
Goaltenders
Starter: Frederik Andersen
(Probable; 3-2-3, 3.46 GAA, 0.891 SV%)
Backup: Jhonas Enroth
Buffalo Sabres Projected Lines
Forwards
Matt Moulson – Ryan O’Reilly – Kyle Okposo
Marcus Foligno – Johan Larsson – Brian Gionta
Zemgus Girgensons – Sam Reinhart – Tyler Ennis
Nick Baptiste – Derek Grant – Justin Bailey
Defence
Josh Gorges – Rasmus Ristolainen
Dmitry Kulikov – Zach Bogosian
Jake McCabe – Cody Franson
Goaltenders
Starter: Robin Lehner
(Probable; 3-2-1, 2.34 GAA, 0.921SV%)
Backup: Anders Nilsson
