Leafs vs. Sabres Pre-Season Takeaways

Leafs start pre-season series against Buffalo with high-octane, high-scoring win over Sabres.

TAVARES STRIKES AGAIN WITH LEAFS' THIRD GOAL IN WILD OPENING PERIOD
1. Centre John Tavares was terrific in his previous pre-season game wearing the Blue and White, striking for two goals in Toronto's 4-1 win over Ottawa Tuesday. And the veteran generated more offence Friday at Scotiabank Arena, capping off the Leafs' three-goal effort in a roller-coaster first period.
Buffalo took a lead 30 seconds into the game, but Buds defenceman Ron Hainsey answered back 18 seconds later with a seeing-eye slap shot just inside the blueline that beat goalie Linus Ullmark. Twenty-three seconds after that, Leafs prospect Pierre Engvall - more on him later - wired a shot past Ullmark to give Toronto first lead. And at the 3:42 mark of the third, Tavares made a terrific stretch pass to winger Mitch Marner from just inside the Leafs' blueline, raced up the ice, and knocked home a rebound off D-man Timothy Liljegren's shot to produce his third pre-season goal.

Tavares' goal gave him four points in the pre-season, and Marner's secondary assist on the play gave him four points as well. Leafs head coach Mike Babcock's decision to put the offensive dynamos together is looking like a savvy one thus far.
MUELLER REGAINS LEAD FOR LEAFS MIDWAY THROUGH SECOND
2. This year's Sabres look to be a drastically-improved group, and as one of Toronto's Atlantic Division rivals, they'll be a handful throughout the regular season as their young team gels. Their resilience is apparent already, though, as new Sabres center Tage Thompson beat Leafs goalie Garret Sparks with a wrist shot at 6:08 of the second period.
However, the Leafs regained the lead at the 10:55 mark when centre Chris Mueller - a vital component of last season's Calder Cup-winning Toronto Marlies team - grabbed the puck off a faceoff to Ullmark's left, then muscled it in - despite the efforts of two Sabres defenders and Ullmark - to make it 4-3 and keep the home crowd at Scotiabank Arena happy.

TAVARES LOCKS UP WIN WITH EMPTY-NET GOAL, BUT OTHER LEAFS SHINE IN THIRD STRAIGHT WIN
3. Buffalo battled hard hard to tie the score, out-shooting Toronto 12-8 in the third. But they couldn't solve Leafs netminder Curtis McEhlhinney, and Tavares sealed the win for Toronto by firing the puck into the empty net for his second of the game and fourth of the pre-season. And it wasn't just Tavares who impressed: Engvall made a number of smart, slick plays, and McElhinney stopped all 20 Sabres shots he saw.
As well, Toronto forward Semyon Der-Arguchintsev made his professional debut by playing 11:48, including 35 seconds of power play time. After the game, the Leafs announced they'd signed the 18-year-old Russian to a three-year, entry-level NHL contract, so Leafs Nation should expect to see him receive his share of opportunities to grow his game and help the team in the years to come.
Toronto's next game comes Saturday night in Buffalo. It's safe to expect the second group of Leafs - the ones who beat the Senators 4-1 Wednesday in Ottawa - to get their turn at impressing Babcock. If this game was any indication, it won't be easy, but with smart, hard work like we saw Friday, victory over this evolving Sabres squad is definitely possible.