St. Thomas, Ontario (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres showed up at the Joe Thornton Community Center on Wednesday for the 2023 Kraft Hockeyville game with a lineup that just couldn‘t compete with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Dylan Cozens was the Sabres' best player dressed, and he certainly played like it. He set up the first goal by defenseman Jeremy Davies and had numerous other opportunities.
It was a rough outing for defenseman Owen Power, as he got walked for a shorthanded breakaway goal in the second period. Just over a minute later, Power didn’t realize Max Domi was coming out of the penalty box, and the new Leafs winger scored on a breakaway.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen played 40 minutes and made 25 saves on 28 shots faced. However, when the team needed a save from him, they didn’t get it.
On the first Toronto goal, the shot was a clean one from the point that Luukkonen got his blocker on, but not enough of it and it went in. On the breakaways, he can’t let in two in-a-row to make a 1-1 game into a 3-1 game.
Especially when his team is on the power play.
The Sabres only managed 15 shots in the loss, while the Leafs fired 41 on Luukkonen and Michael Houser.
Buffalo is now 2-1-0 on the preseason, and will be right back at it on Thursday in Pittsburgh against the Penguins.
