Unbe-leaf-able – Toronto Maple Leafs Steal Win from Buffalo Sabres

The playoffs have come early for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Pressed into a must-win situation in every game for the rest of the season, the Leafs are essentially in playoff mode as they fight to stay alive in the race for an Eastern Conference postseason berth.

On Saturday night, the Air Canada Centre was the scene for a pivotal matchup between Toronto and their Northeast Division rivals, the Buffalo Sabres. From the opening faceoff through to the exciting conclusion, the crowd was buzzing and the atmosphere in the arena even had the feel of a playoff game. And it couldn’t have ended any better for the majority of the 19,347 fans in attendance.

The Leafs (30-29-10) put together an inspired third period effort to complete a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over the visiting Sabres (33-27-8) and pull within four points of eighth place.

Phil Kessel was lucky on the game winning goal as the puck deflected of a Buffalo defenceman and past Ryan Miller for his team-leading 28^th goal of the season. Meanwhile, James Reimer was sharp all night, making 39 saves, including a huge game-saving stop late in the third to preserve the victory.

“That’s a huge win for our team,” said captain Dion Phaneuf who finished plus three and assisted on the game-tying goal. “It’s a huge character win. It shows the kind of group that we have and feels really good.”

“With the amount of points on the line, I thought our team played very well, right from our goalie on out, all our forwards and all our ‘d’ (defencemen). We were solid and it was a huge period for our team.”

Perhaps it’s a cliché, but to be successful, a team’s best players need to be their best players and that was the case for Toronto on this night. The Leafs’ top two lines accounted for all four goals and were a plus eight on the evening. Even Reimer got on the score sheet with his first NHL point, registering an assist on the Kessel’s game winning goal.

Kessel and Mikhail Grabovski each had a goal and an assist, while Tyler Bozak and Clarke MacArthur scored the others. MacArthur now joins Nikolai Kulemin (25), Kessel (28) and Grabovski (27) in the Leafs’ 20-goal club. Mike Weber, Jochen Hecht and Jordon Leopold tallied for the Sabres.

Once again the game did not start well for the Leafs. They found themselves down 1-0 less than three minutes into the game when Weber fired a point-shot past Reimer’s glove to give the Sabres the lead. MacArthur responded with a blistering shot that rang off the far post and past Miller to tie the game at 1-1 before the end of the period.

After a series of great chances and sustained pressure, Bozak was able to put the Leafs back up 2-1 midway through the second. The lead was short-lived as Hecht scored just 54 seconds later to even the score as he lifted a rebound up and over Reimer. Buffalo then went ahead 4-3 when Leopold unleashed a one-timer 18 seconds into their one and only powerplay of the game.

Heading into the third period the Leafs knew they had a tough task in overcoming a 3-2 deficit, especially since the Sabres were 17-1-2 when leading after two periods this season.

“We didn’t have to say much,” said Phaneuf. “We knew what was on the line. The only thing was said was that we’ve got 20 minutes to make this our game. And we did that.”

Added Reimer, “We were talking here in the second intermission about how we needed to come out strong and how we believed and how we knew we could do it.”

Early in the third, with puck deep in the Sabres zone, the Leafs cycled the puck before Grabovski was able to one-time a bullet past Miller to tie the game at 3-3. Just under three minutes later, Kessel faked a pass to Bozak at the Sabres blueline before blowing by Leopold. His quick shot deflected off Steve Montador’s skate and behind Miller to put the Leafs up 4-3.

With less than eight minutes remaining, Reimer made a huge save robbing Brad Boyes up close off a rebound with his outstretched left pad. From there the Leafs had a few tense moments but held on for the victory.

Buffalo had been away for the entire month of March, as the team completed a tough seven-game road trip finishing with an impressive record of 4-2-1. Perhaps the lengthy stay on the road explained why the Sabres looked tired in the third period. The Leafs took full advantage, creating a few stretches of sustained pressure and ultimately wore Buffalo down.

“If we’re going to make the playoffs and talk about being committed and urgent, that’s not exactly the way to show it,” said Leafs coach Ron Wilson of the team’s second period.

“So we have a period to show that we’re serious when we talk about trying to make the playoffs. And we came out gunning and got them on their heels for the most part.”

The Leafs will enjoy the victory, but not for long as the focus soon shifts to their next game.

“It feels great, it’s the biggest win of the year for our team but now we move forward to an even bigger game on Monday,” said Phaneuf.

On Monday night, Toronto will continue its four-game homestand against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The puck drops at 7pm at the ACC.

1st star – James Reimer

2nd star – Phil Kessel

3rd star – Mikhail Grabovski

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