The Buffalo Sabres beat the Toronto Maple Leafs and put up six goals in the process alongside 41 shots on goal in what was an incredible effort.
The Buffalo Sabres beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in what was a much-needed bounce-back win after they barely showed up the previous night. Buffalo went into last night’s game knowing that, even if it’s still early in the season, that it would do well in their interests to come away with the W to avoid playing catch-up hockey early in the year.
And they did just that, scoring six goals and finding an answer for primarily Auston Matthews every time he scored – three times, if you were doing the math. But what were the three biggest factors that allowed the Sabres to come away with the much-needed win?
For one, they shot the puck well, and ended up with 41 shots on net. For another, they didn’t mess around, and took advantage of the opportunities the Leafs gave them when they needed to the most. And finally, they ultimately won the special teams battle, stopping the Leafs power play for the most part and scoring on the man advantage.
Why the Buffalo Sabres beat the Toronto Maple Leafs
1 – They got pucks to the net
Here is an interesting statistic: The Buffalo Sabres got the puck to the net against the Toronto Maple Leafs 41 times, or four times more than their 37 shots on goal in their combined previous two games against the Philadelphia Flyers. That’s nothing short of remarkable, and their tendency to get shots on net alone is a huge reason why the Sabres are 6-6-0 instead of 5-7-0.
When the high-octane version of this team shows, they almost always win, or they at least make things interesting. That didn’t happen over the previous two games, despite the fact that the group ended up with five goals on Wednesday. But after finding the net six times on 41 shots on goal, it should tell the Sabres something: Make a habit out of getting the puck to the net.