The Buffalo Sabres have turned things around after starting the season with three straight losses.
Winners of four of their past five games, they will look to keep rolling when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second half of a back-to-back matchup with their Atlantic Division rival on Saturday.
The Sabres took the opener of the two-game set on Friday, skating away with a 5-3 win in Buffalo. Mattias Samuelsson scored twice for the hosts, while Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch and Jiri Kulich each collected a goal and an assist.
Buffalo has looked solid over the past five contests, even in the one loss during that span. But the Sabres don’t want to get overconfident.
“It’s a two-way street, right?” Thompson said. “Can’t get too down on ourselves when we’re 0-3, and we’re on a bit of a heater right now, can’t get too high and forget what made you successful. I think for us the message is staying even keel. Continue to do things that are a recipe for winning hockey.”
Samuelsson has been solid on the back end in the four games he has played after a two-game injury absence. He has been physical and strong on defense and also has started to show some offensive instincts, logging three points over the past two games.
“He’s healthy, he’s a big man, he skates well,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “He really shoots the puck well. … He’s helped us in all areas. He’s been great on the (penalty kill), him jumping in helping create offense, finishing those plays. I mean, two great goals on his part. But playing against the big lines all the time, his physicality has really been good. He’s really played well for us.”
Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen could make his first start of the regular season on Saturday. The 26-year-old Finland native, who had been sidelined with a lower-body injury sustained on Oct. 1, backed up Alex Lyon on Friday. Luukkonen played one game during a conditioning stint with Rochester of the American Hockey League, making 21 saves in a win on Wednesday.
The Maple Leafs enter the Saturday rematch looking to snap out of a three-game skid (0-2-1) that has seen them get outscored 14-8.
“I think when you work and compete, like we did for most of this game tonight, good things are going to happen,” Toronto captain Auston Matthews said following the Friday defeat. “You’re going to get out of these little skids and you’re going win hockey games. So you clean up the little mistakes that cost you … and play the way and compete the way that we did tonight, I think we’ll be happy with the result most of the time.”
The Maple Leafs might be without forward William Nylander, who left the Friday game late in the third period with an undisclosed injury. Coach Craig Berube didn’t have an update after the game.
If Nylander can’t go, Berube would have to find someone else to fill in on the newly formed top line with Matthews and Bobby McMann. The trio was put together for the first time on Friday and left a good impression, with both Nylander and Matthews scoring a goal.
“They just looked really good,” he said. “They were quick, supported each other really well, strong on pucks, a lot of (offensive zone) time. A lot of good things from that line.”
