Sabres stun listless Maple Leafs 5-1 to snap six-game slide

TORONTO – The Maple Leafs talked at length Wednesday morning about the excitement and advantage of playing in front of a packed home crowd.

The same group was lustily booed off Scotiabank Arena’s ice roughly 12 hours later following an uninspired no-show against one of the NHL’s bottom-feeders.

Jeff Skinner had a goal and an assist as the Buffalo Sabres snapped a six-game losing streak with a stunning 5-1 victory over listless Toronto.

“Terrible from start to finish,” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said in a blunt assessment.

“We just didn’t have it … simple as that,” he added. “That’s a reflection on the coaching. That’s a reflection on the players.

“I didn’t think anybody had it.”

Jacob Bryson, Victor Olofsson, Tage Thompson and Kyle Okposo also scored for Buffalo (17-30-8), which got 29 saves from Craig Anderson. Dylan Cozens added two assists.

Rasmus Sandin replied for Toronto (35-15-4). Petr Mrazek stopped 26 shots.

The Leafs played in front of 17,122 fans — nearly 1,700 short of a sellout – in their first home date with the potential for full capacity since Dec. 11 after an easing of provincial COVID-19 restrictions.

The vast majority went home with frowns under their masks on a night where the home side was second-best against an opponent that had surrendered 28 goals during its ugly slide.

“These are the games that I think we need to get better at,” Sandin, who was on the ice with defence partner Morgan Rielly for three goals against, said of facing teams out of the playoff race. “Buffalo, no disrespect or anything, but I think that’s a team that we should beat.

“We just weren’t prepared in the right way.”

Toronto hosted the Sabres for the first time since December 2019, and will get another crack at Buffalo when the clubs play outdoors March 13 at Hamilton’s Tim Hortons Field in the Heritage Classic.

“We want to win for the fans and have them enjoy the game,” Rielly said. “But as players, I think the most important thing is just the points. If you look at the playoff race, we’re right there.

“Lose a game like this … that’s the biggest disappointment.”

Toronto, which had won three in a row, also laid an egg Feb. 21 against another non-playoff team when the Montreal Canadiens picked up a 5-2 decision.

“We’re trying to accomplish something,” said Leafs captain John Tavares, whose goal drought now stands at 14 games. “We have to be ready to play no matter who our opponent is.”

Olofsson snapped a 1-1 tie at 12:19 of the second period when Rasmus Asplund’s shot hit Sandin in front and fell kindly for the Buffalo winger to fire home his eighth goal of the season.

Anderson, a 40-year-old in his 19th NHL campaign, didn’t have a lot to do until that point, but stopped Pierre Engvall’s breakaway and rebound effort moments later to keep the visitors in front.

Olofsson then fired a shot off Mrazek’s post that stayed out, but he was beaten by Thompson’s quick strike from the slot with 1:29 left in the period after Sandin got stripped by Skinner.

The goal was Thompson’s 23rd of the campaign, and ninth in nine games.

The Sabres put any thought of a Toronto comeback to rest at 6:39 of the third when Skinner stepped past Sandin and moved in alone before firing his 21st on Mrazek.

“No real urgency,” Keefe said of his players. “No real competitiveness.”

Okposo made it 5-1 at 11:50 with his 14th after some nice work by Cozens behind the net before Mrazek got a Bronx cheer on his next save from the Leafs’ frustrated fans.

The boos would soon follow as the final seconds ticked down.

“We have a full building, first time in two or three months,” Mrazek said. “They want us to play good, to win the games.

“That wasn’t the wasn’t the result tonight.”

Making consecutive starts for the first time this season with Jack Campbell struggling of late, the Toronto netminder had some tough luck on an early Sabres power play when Bryson’s point shot glanced off Rielly for the blue-liner’s first at 2:26 of the opening period.

Toronto responded at 11:48 when Sandin, who scored the winner in Monday’s 5-3 road victory against the Washington Capitals and was elevated to the top defence pair, buried his second goal in as many games off a slick pass from Michael Bunting for his fourth.

The Leafs’ struggling power play, which still sat No. 1 in the NHL despite going 0 for 12 over the last six games heading into Wednesday, got a chance early in the second, but Auston Matthews saw his stick explode on the best opportunity before Buffalo scored twice to take control.

“It’s always a battle trying to decide which ones you flush and which ones you try to flip the table about and try to spark something,” Rielly said of his team’s response moving forward. “It’s not the effort that we expected. It’s not the effort that is our standard.

“We expect better.”

So did the Leafs’ faithful in Toronto’s first full home game in 81 days.

Notes: Mitch Marner played the 400th regular-season NHL game of his career. … The Leafs beat the Sabres 5-4 in Buffalo on Nov. 13. … Toronto played its last three home contests prior to Wednesday at half capacity.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 2, 2022.

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