The Buffalo Sabres extended one streak and ended one in the same night against the Toronto Maple Leafs when they won 5-3 on Friday night. This would be the first game the Sabres have won against Toronto since the 2023-24 season as Toronto won the prior five meetings.
In addition, the Sabres would extend a home win streak to four games after wins against the Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators. They will not have much time to enjoy this win as they play again tomorrow night against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the back half of a home-and-home series.
These are four takeaways from their big win on Friday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Buffalo Sabres matched the energy of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first period
Too many times this season, the Buffalo Sabres have come out flat, and they have only been in the game due to Alex Lyon making big saves. In the game against the Detroit Red Wings, the Sabres did a much better job to begin the game, and that once again carried over on Friday night against the Maple Leafs.
The scoring started early when Mattias Samuelsson would beat Anthony Stolarz in the first five minutes of the game. They wouldn't hold the lead long as William Nylander would beat Lyon through the five hole less than 30 seconds after Samuelsson's goal.
However, the momentum went right back to Buffalo as Jiri Kulich finished off a beautiful play that started with Zach Benson, who passed it across to Tage Thompson, who set up Kulich for the goal.
All three goals were scored within two minutes and they held the lead until Auston Matthews scored a power play goal with about eight minutes left in the first.
It was great to see the Sabres get the early lead and continue to match the intensity of the Maple Leafs
Buffalo Sabres finally get some goals from their blue line
Through the first seven games of the season, the Buffalo Sabres have had only one goal from their blue line, which was by Owen Power against the Florida Panthers. It is something that has been lacking to begin the season after they had 38 goals last season.
Against the Maple Leafs, the Sabres got not one but two goals from their blue line and was from the most unlikely player in Mattias Samuelsson. He would open the scoring for the Sabres early in the first period before adding his second in the second period to give Buffalo a 4-2 lead.
Samuelsson is certainly not known for his goal scoring, with only seven career goals before tonight, and his last goal was on March 27th against the Pittsburgh Penguins. It is hard to imagine Samuelsson will all of a sudden become a goal-scorer, but the Sabres certainly could use more production from their defensemen.
Rasmus Dahlin has a performance he would like to forget
Rasmus Dahlin is one of the best defensemen in the NHL, but he certainly didn't look like it on Friday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. It started early in this game as Dahlin seemingly lost William Nylander on his goal in the first period, and he looked about to score a second before Dahlin was able to disrupt him enough but resulting in a penalty.
Over the course of the game, Dahlin would be moved down the pairs and play with Mattias Samuelsson. However, it didn't get any better, and Dahlin took an awful penalty late in the third period for delay of the game.
The good news is that it didn't hurt the Sabres, and they would score a short-handed goal, but this is a game that Dahlin will want to forget and move past quickly.
Tage Thompson finally finds the back of the net
One of the bigger surprises this season has been Tage Thompson's lack of goals as he entered this game against Toronto with only one. He hasn't necessarily been playing poorly but for a player who has led the team in goals the past few seasons, it is surprising.
That all changed against the Maple Leafs as he would score in the second period off a beautiful pass by Bo Byram that gave the Sabres the lead for good. He also had an assist earlier in the game with a pass to Jiri Kulich.
The Sabres have looked better as of late and if Tage Thompson can get going, it will only help them sustain this level of play.