It had been 636 days since the Buffalo Sabres last faced the Toronto Maple Leafs and the two teams played a back-and-forth affair that wasn't decided until the final moments.
Morgan Rielly scored with 11.8 seconds left in regulation as the Sabres were defeated 5-4 on Saturday at KeyBank Center.
Jeff Skinner scored twice for Buffalo while Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin also tallied. Aaron Dell made 21 saves in his Sabres debut.
Skinner (2+1) recorded his third multi-point game of the season and he posted his first three-point game since November 3, 2018.
David Kampf, Ondrej Kase and Michael Bunting were Toronto's other goal scorers. Joseph Woll won in his NHL debut, stopped 23 shots.
Buffalo battled back from a 4-2 deficit in the third period to tie things up midway through the period, but couldn't get the game to overtime.
The Sabres' power play went 0-for-2 and the penalty kill was 1-for-1.
At The Final Horn | Sabres rally back but fall in regulation to Toronto
Late goal by Maple Leafs proves to be the difference
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© Ben Green/Getty Images
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TOR@BUF: Skinner hammers the puck home to knot score
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TOR@BUF: Skinner puts pass home for second goal
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TOR@BUF: Dahlin beats Woll to tie the game in 3rd
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TOR@BUF: Thompson scores in 2nd period
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Rick the team dog meets RJ
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Dominik Hasek on the pregame show