Toronto, Ontario (WGR Sports Radio 550) - When was the last time I could say the Buffalo Sabres are better than the Toronto Maple Leafs? Well, Sabres fans, it is now true.
The Sabres walked into Toronto on Tuesday and dominated the Leafs, 7-4, sending them to their fifth-straight home defeat.
With the win, the Sabres are in third in the Atlantic Division with a points percentage of .625. The Detroit Red Wings are second at .639.
The Leafs have dropped to 12th in the Eastern Conference with a points percentage of .538. Toronto is in real danger of not even making the playoffs.
Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin has really been ramping up his game, and it was on full display Tuesday. He picked up his first-career hat-trick, and added two assists to give him five points and 400 career points.
He played 26:24 on Tuesday and had 10 shot attempts.
During their current bender, Buffalo is 19-3-1, and Dahlin has been a huge part of the Sabres' success. Dahlin is now eighth in defenseman scoring with 11 goals and 31 assists for 42 points. He's had seven goals and seven assists for 14 points in his last 11 games.
The Sabres overcame losing Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen just 12:14 into the game.
At 10:49, Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews scored on a bad rebound given up by Luukkonen to give Toronto a 2-1 lead, but there was a reason for the rebound. Luukkonen suffered a lower-body injury on the play. He stayed on his knees for a while and then left the game at the next whistle.
Colten Ellis entered the game and looked shaky until the third period when he made some really nice saves to make sure Toronto didn’t get back into the game.
The 25-year-old is now 7-4-0 this season.
Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff had been alternating his goalies for 11 games, and it had been working. Now that Luukkonen has the possibility of missing some time with the lower-body injury, I would expect Lyon to be used as the team’s No. 1 goalie.
Lyon enters Thursday’s home game against the Los Angeles Kings with nine-straight wins, with the last being a 5-0 shutout on Long Island against the New York Islanders.
The Sabres got a lot of, what many would call, "lucky" breaks in Toronto, as goals were going in off deflections.
But how come for years it always seemed like the other team would get all those breaks and the Sabres would get very few? I’m a firm believer in you make your own luck.
This team now plays a fast, hard game and they have bought into what Ruff is selling. That includes being around the net.
Dahlin opened the scoring, because Jason Zucker went hard to the crease, bringing Morgan Reilly with him. Dahlin’s pass across went in off of Reilly’s skate.
If Zucker is on the perimeter, nobody is there for the puck to go in off of.
Josh Doan tied the game at 2-2 on the power play, because he quickly turned and put the puck towards the net and it went in off Troy Stecher’s stick.
Tage Thompson got the puck when Max Domi turned it over to him in the high slot. He beat Joseph Woll with the long shot, because Zach Benson was pretty much sitting in the goaltender’s lap screening him.
Dahlin gave Buffalo a 4-3 lead with his second of the game, because he was in the left circle and realized a forward had covered up for him at the point. He went to the crease to tip in Mattias Samuelsson’s point shot.
This is no longer by accident. It's regular habits now that the Sabres are there for each other and cover for each other.
The Sabres have become a good team, because they don’t have to think about these small details. They’ve become habits, and it’s winning them hockey games.
After the game, Ruff said Jordan Greenway is going to have to see the doctor again in connection with his offseason surgery. The program he’s been on is no longer working, which is why he’s missed two-straight games.
Tyson Kozak is now healthy and playing very well in his place.
Buffalo finished its five-game road trip 4-1-0, outscoring their opponents 22-11.
The Sabres are 12-2-0 in their last 14 away from home, and have played 14 of their last 23 games on the road.
They now come home for two games against the Kings on Thursday and Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. After, that it’s back on the road for 5-of-6 games, starting Monday in Florida against the Panthers.
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