Tavares, Marner each gets three points in Maple Leafs win against Sabres
via NHL.com
John Tavares and Mitchell Marner each had a goal and two assists for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 5-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.
The Maple Leafs remained three points behind the Boston Bruins for second place in the Atlantic Division. The Bruins defeated the New Jersey Devils 1-0 on Saturday.
Nic Petan scored in his debut, and Frederik Andersen made 35 saves for the Maple Leafs (40-21-4), who are 4-1-0 in their past five games.
Jason Pominville and Conor Sheary scored, and Linus Ullmark made 27 saves for the Sabres (30-27-8), who have lost three of four and trail the Montreal Canadiens by nine points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Petan put the Maple Leafs ahead 3-2 at 15:02 of the second period when he one-timed a pass from Trevor Moore in the slot.
Nikita Zaitsev made it 4-2 at 19:05 when his shot from the right half boards went off Sabres defenseman Brandon Montour’s skate in the slot.
The Maple Leafs went up 1-0 at 4:20 of the first period when Tavares put in a rebound at the side of the crease.
Pominville tied it 1-1 at 6:00 when he put in a loose puck that got behind Andersen.
Sheary put the Sabres up 2-1 at 7:34 when he corralled a flip pass at the blue line from Kyle Okposo and shot past Andersen’s glove from the high slot.
Morgan Rielly tied it 2-2 at 19:40 when his point shot went between Ullmark’s pads.
Marner scored into an empty net with 1:57 left in the third period for the 5-2 final.
Saturday night celebration.
Check out tonight's @OntarioLottery Game Winning Numbers.#LeafsForever #That649Feeling pic.twitter.com/lKGcXpPS93
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) March 3, 2019
Wait for it...
Wait for it...
BOOM#LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/KJEpDa9NBm— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) March 3, 2019
The 2018-19 season marks the fewest games in @MapleLeafs franchise history in which the club reached the 40-win mark (65 GP). #NHLStats #BUFvsTOR pic.twitter.com/dCODKEZZ80
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 3, 2019