Sabres overcome Matthews hat trick, edge Maple Leafs

The Buffalo Sabres overcame Auston Matthews’ third hat trick of the season to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-4 at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

Alex Tuch scored twice, JJ Peterka had a goal and an assist, and Devon Levi made 25 saves for the Sabres (6-6-0), who lost 5-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday but are 3-1-0 in their past four.

“[Our effort tonight] was a reflection of a lot of anger,” Buffalo coach Don Granato said. “I’m not speaking just for myself. The room took it to heart. They were disappointed to be below their standard and they rose to it tonight.”

William Nylander had an assist to extend his season-opening point streak to 11 games, and Mitchell Marner had a goal and two assists for the Maple Leafs (5-4-2), who are 0-2-2 in their past four games. Joseph Woll made 35 saves.

“It felt like we beat ourselves,” Toronto defenseman Mark Giordano said. “Every time we found a way to get back in the game, we gave them one. Pretty disappointing. We found ways in all aspects of the game to give them a freebie.”

Matthews scored 17 seconds into the third period to tie it 3-3. He buried a shot from just below the right hash marks after taking a pass from Marner, who was behind the net.

Jordan Greenway put the Sabres back in front 4-3 at 3:11 when he tapped in the rebound of Casey Mittelstadt’s shot, but Matthews completed the hat trick at 7:26 to tie it 4-4 when he deflected a point shot from Giordano.

“Every time we were in control, the game was right there for us, we gave it back, right back,” Matthews said. “They’re a very skilled team, very opportunistic team, and when you give them those chances, they typically make good.

“We haven’t played up to our capability for a full 60 minutes yet, and that’s on us to obviously figure that out.”

Tuch responded to give Buffalo a 5-4 lead at 12:48 when Rasmus Dahlin’s point shot deflected off him in the slot. He then scored into an empty net at 18:54 for the 6-4 final.

“I think obviously last night we didn’t have a great game and we wanted to have a big response, and we played a pretty talented team,” Sabres forward Jeff Skinner said. “If they get a chance or capitalize on an opportunity, we want to come back and have a good response in game, too. There was a lot of good moments for us throughout that game. Fortunately, we get the result we wanted.”

Marner put the Maple Leafs up 1-0 at 12:05 of the first period, scoring on a breakaway after taking a lead pass from Calle Jarnkrok. The goal extended his point streak to six games (three goals, five assists).

Peterka tied it 1-1 at 16:13 on a shot from the top of the left face-off circle during a power play.

Tage Thompson put the Sabres ahead 2-1 at 6:28 of the second period when he intercepted Marner’s pass at the Maple Leafs’ blue line and scored short-handed on a breakaway.

“Just a [mess] really,” Marner said. “No speed by me. We have game plans coming in about what we want to try to do on the power play and try to execute it. Sometimes I think it’s just about (making) the safer play.”

Matthews scored his first of the night on a power play to tie it 2-2 at 11:22.

Skinner put the Sabres ahead 3-2 at 11:56 of the second period when took a lead pass from Ryan Johnson, who was making his NHL debut, and scored with a slap shot over Woll’s shoulder from the left face-off circle.

“I was just excited to be out there, getting the opportunity,” Johnson said. “The puck was up in the air and just grabbed the puck, moved to the side, kind of shielded it and passed to Skinner, and then Skinner just took a really nice slap shot. I was surprised it went in.”

Granato said he was impressed by the poise Johnson showed in making the play.

“You could see the entire play, the body language, he knew somebody was open and he knew he could get the puck there,” Granato said. “It was obviously tape-to-tape. Very big goal at a big moment.”