TORONTO – Put Saturday afternoon’s 4-3 loss to the Maple Leafs in the acceptable category for the Buffalo Sabres.
Sure, some sting accompanies the overtime setback. They held a late third-period lead. They fell seconds after nearly winning it at the other end.
But the Sabres, fresh off Friday’s 5-3 home win against the Maple Leafs, took three of four points from their closest rival. They’re 4-1-1 in their last six outings.
On Saturday, winger Tage Thompson’s second goal of the night, a power-play score 7:06 into the third period, put the Sabres up 3-2 before Dakota Joshua tied it at 13:10, beating a screened Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Simply getting the game to overtime and earning a single point represents progress.
“We played the game as well as you could play in the third period,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “I think … the goal we give up was the only chance of the period. Scored a big power-play goal. We had three, four other good opportunities to win the hockey game. You look at the overtime, we had four point-blank (chances).”
The Sabres generated two of those prime chances seconds before John Tavares beat Luukkonen from the left circle 1:28 into overtime, clinching the victory before 18,792 fans in Scotiabank Arena.
After Sabres winger Jack Quinn’s two-on-one pass to Thompson hit a defender’s skate blade – “I think we’re a half an inch from winning the game at the other end,” Thompson said – defenseman Owen Power briefly corralled the puck in the slot before losing it.
“Getting three of four points is good,” Ruff said. “I think the way we played is a big step for us, playing on the road and making sure you get points. Points are important.”
Those road points are precious. Saturday’s marked the Sabres’ first this season.
“Getting one on the road in Toronto is big, something to build off of,” Tuch said. “I think if we bear down in some areas, we probably get that second point. But proud of the group.”
Thompson opened the scoring in the first period before goals by Nick Robertson and Matias Maccelli put the Maple Leafs up 2-1 by early in the second. Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram tied it in the second period.
Luukkonen debuts
Luukkonen, who hadn’t played an NHL game since April 15, wasn’t supposed to play Saturday.
Ruff said Sabres goalie Colten Ellis, who stopped 27 shots in Wednesday’s 4-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings, his NHL debut, woke up with a tight back Saturday morning.
“Couldn’t get through it,” Ruff said.
Ruff said he doesn’t expect Ellis, a recent waiver claim, to miss much time.
“Kind of strange,” he said. “We sent him up here early yesterday to be ready. When he got up in the morning he complained of an ailment. He tried to go and then we realized it was probably not the right idea.”
Luukkonen looked sharp for most of the night, making 18 saves.
Still, the tying late tying goal he allowed irked him.
“I think I played good until the third goal,” Luukkonen said. “Obviously, want that one back. Didn’t play perfectly on that goal. We kind of gave away a point and went to overtime.
“It’s a coin-flip situation, pretty much, everything can happen on a three-on-three. So got to come up with a couple more saves.”
Ruff said: “I think probably he’d want the third one back.”
Luukkonen, 26, tweaked a lower-body injury late in the summer and missed the first week of training camp. After returning, he suffered another lower-body injury Oct. 1 and exited a preseason contest after one period.
The Finn stopped 21 shots for the Rochester Americans in Wednesday’s 4-2 win over the Syracuse Crunch, his only appearance during an AHL conditioning stint.
Byram takes big hit
At the 14:22 mark of the first period, Maple Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe hit Byram high in the right circle in the Toronto zone, knocking him to the ice.
Sabres winger Alex Tuch immediately made McCabe pay for the suspect hit, fighting him. But the scrap quickly ended when McCabe knocked Tuch down as he struggled to get his glove off.
“Kind of got into a nice right hook by McCabe there, but not afraid to do it,” Tuch said.
“I know guys in here aren’t afraid to do it, stand up for one another. That’s the type of team we are, that’s how closely knit we are, and that’s what we’re going to do going forward.”
Officials reviewed the hit and deemed it clean. Tuch received a two-minute instigator penalty and a 10-minute misconduct in addition to his fighting major. McCabe just received a fighting major.
“I looked at it,” Ruff said of the hit. “I thought it was a head shot. I really thought that there should’ve been no instigator because their guy dropped his gloves even before Tuchy had dropped his.
“You watch it live, it’s hard. You get to slow it down. I know they took a hard look at it. It’s not an easy call. Not a play you like.”
Byram stayed in the game.
Thompson, who has scored three goals in the last two games, called Tuch “a big character teammate.”
“That makes us want to play harder for each other when you see someone doing something like that,” he said.
