Power helps Sabres defeat Maple Leafs in NHL debut

TORONTO -- Owen Power helped the Buffalo Sabres to a 5-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs in his NHL debut at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.

Power, the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, was plus-2 in 19:28 of ice time. He signed a three-year, entry level contract with the Sabres on Friday after completing his sophomore season with the University of Michigan, where he had 32 points (three goals, 29 assists) in 33 games.
"I think I was pretty calm but obviously there's going to be some nerves," Power said. "There were definitely some but not too bad.
"I think once you got the first one (shift) out of the way you kind of get into the rhythm. I think it kind of calmed my nerves down, and a nice showing like that is pretty easy."
Power grew up in Mississauga, Ontario, about a half-hour drive west of Scotiabank Arena, and was in the starting lineup.
"He was great, that's a tremendous job," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "As I've mentioned beforehand, there's no doubt he's rehearsed in his mind being in this building and this league many times, and it looked like it; it looked very from the drop of the puck. He had a little fun with his skate there, but he's a very balanced person, and I thought he was outstanding tonight.

Rasmus Dahlin and Rasmus Asplund each had a goal and an assist, and Alex Tuch and Victor Olofsson each had two assists for the Sabres (27-37-11). Craig Anderson made 24 saves.
Morgan Rielly had two assists, and Erik Kallgren made 23 saves for the Maple Leafs (47-20-6), who are 7-1-1 in their past nine. Toronto has clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and is second in the Atlantic Division, four points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Auston Matthews' 16-game point streak ended. He had 31 points (21 goals, 10 assists) during the streak.
"I think it's pretty simple, we just didn't play well," Matthews said. "I thought from the start, it didn't seem like we had much energy on the bench, much energy on the ice. I thought there were definitely plays to be made but we didn't do a good job of executing. It's pretty simple, we just didn't play up to our standard tonight."

Tage Thompson gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead at 9:11 of the second period when he took a pass from Tuch and shot from the slot on the power play.
Jeff Skinner made it 3-1 at 4:09 of the third period when he took a pass from Tuch and shot past Kallgren's blocker in the slot.
Dahlin scored 1:34 later to make it 4-1 when he took a pass from Olofsson and shot from just above the bottom of the right face-off circle.
Alex Kerfoot cut the lead to 4-2 at 8:55 when his shot from the slot rolled off Anderson, just crossing the goal line.
Asplund scored into an empty net with 2:18 remaining for the 5-2 final.
Buffalo went 3-1-0 against Toronto in the season series including three consecutive wins.
"It wasn't our best obviously," Kerfoot said. "It was an unfortunate showing for us. They've taken it to us pretty good this year. We wanted to come back and have a better performance than that but yeah, credit to them. We didn't have it tonight and it wasn't an acceptable performance by us by any means but it's one game, we've been rolling pretty good here. We're not going to lose sleep over it and we'll be back better by our next game."

Mark Giordano had a 2-on-1 with Matthews at 5:55 of the first period, but Power was able to intercept Giordano's pass to break up the chance.
"I knew Matthews was on the other side, so I think I was more worried just not letting him get the puck," Power said. "So that's kind of what was going through my head."
Kyle Okposo put the Sabres up 1-0 at 7:25 of the first period when he took a cross-slot pass from Olofsson and shot from the right hashmarks on the power play.
Timothy Liljegren tied it 1-1 at 2:09 of the second period. He banked a shot off Anderson's pad from the goal line after getting to the rebound off the end boards from William Nylander's shot.
Tuch said he was very impressed by Power's debut performance.
"He fits right in the locker room," Tuch said. "A little quiet so far. We'll break him here shortly. But no, he's very professional. He comes in, he's prepared to play. No one really had to tell him anything different. Obviously, being the No. 1 overall pick comes with its own pressure in itself, let alone having your first NHL game, but he handled it like a 10-year pro. It's great to see. He's got a really bright future ahead of him. He'll be a superstar in this league."
NOTES: Dahlin had his 152nd point (27 goals, 125 assists) in 270 games to tie Rick Hampton for the ninth most by a defenseman in NHL history before age 22. ... Rielly set a career high with hi 53rd assist. The last Maple Leafs defenseman to have more in a single season was Tomas Kaberle in 2005-06 with 58.