Tavares scores 499th NHL goal in OT, Maple Leafs top Sabres to end 3-game skid

John Tavares scored his 499th NHL goal 1:28 into overtime to help the Toronto Maple Leafs defeat the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 at Scotiabank Arena Saturday.

Tavares took a lead pass from Matthew Knies and shot over Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s blocker from the slot on a breakaway for the game-winning goal.

“It wasn’t an easy window, so he put it in a good spot, really easy for me to corral it with the momentum that I had and just was able to take my time with it and hit my spot,” Tavares said. “So it was great to see it go in and get back on the winning side of things.”

Tavares also had an assist and extendeded his point streak to four games (seven points; four goals, three assists).

“He’s certainly made me a lot better professional just being around him, watching how he goes through his process, it’s quite impressive,” defenseman Jake McCabe said. “I know we always talk about it but he’s Mr. Steady every single year and to have that in your room as a leader, it’s super crucial for our team. We certainly don’t take it for granted. Not even just 499, he’s one of four people to have 500 points with two different teams, it’s pretty amazing company he’s sharing there.”

Nicholas Robertson, Matias Maccelli and Dakota Joshua scored and Knies had two assists for the Maple Leafs (4-4-1), who were 0-2-1 in their previous three games. Cayden Primeau made 23 saves.

Toronto was without forward William Nylander because of an injury sustained on Friday in a 5-3 loss to the Sabres. He had played in 267 consecutive games, last missing a game on April 4, 2022.

“Gritty win is kind of how I look at it,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “The difference for me tonight is we were better defending the odd man-rushes. … We were above things all night. It was a low-event game. You play teams like that, you have to make sure you are not giving those freebies up and we didn’t do that. Our guys played hard. I liked the jam they played with, physical, couple nice hits, a little bit [ticked] off.”

Tage Thompson scored twice for the Sabres (4-4-1), who had won two in a row. Luukkonen made 18 saves in his season debut after missing the first eight games of the season with a lower-body injury.

“Getting three of four points is good,” Buffalo coach Lindy 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.”

Thompson put the Sabres up 3-2 at 7:06 of the third period on the power play. He got to a loose puck in the slot after Rasmus Dahlin’s shot from the blue line was blocked by McCabe, spun and shot between Primeau’s pads.

“I thought tonight was a great game,” Thompson said. “Goals aside, I thought we played really hard back to back against a pretty good team. I thought we were the better team in both games. Nice to get a point tonight obviously, would’ve liked to get two there but three out of four on the weekend is pretty good.”

Joshua scored for the second straight game, tying it 3-3 at 13:10 when he cut across the slot and shot past Luukkonen’s glove from the left face-off dot.

“I think frustrating for me,” Luukkonen said. “I think I played good until the third goal. Obviously, [I] 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 3-on-3. So got to come up with a couple more saves. But overall, I think the team played really tonight.”

The Sabres went up 1-0 at 13:40 of the first period when Thompson took a cross-ice pass from Jiri Kulich and shot over Primeau’s right shoulder from the left face-off dot.

Robertson, who was a healthy scratch on Friday, tied it 1-1 at 18:33 when he took a pass from Easton Cowan, who was behind the net and shot blocker side from the slot.

“It was great,” Robertson said. “It was good to get my confidence up and getting one feels really good.”

Maccelli put the Maple Leafs up 2-1 at 1:59 of the second period when he redirected a pass from Tavares past Luukkonen’s outstretched left pad at the side of the goal crease.

Kulich thought he tied it at 6:59 but the goal was overturned after the officials determined Zach Benson interfered with Primeau in the goal crease.

Bowen Byram did tie it 2-2 at 14:23 when he shot from the blue line through traffic in front of Primeau.

“Every point matters,” Sabres forward Alex Tuch said. “We’d like to get two of them, obviously. Getting one on the road in Toronto is big, something to build off of. I think if we bear down in some areas, we probably get that second point. But proud of the group.”