Maple Leafs score four in second, hold off Sabres

TORONTO --Frederik Gauthier had a goal and an assist for his first multipoint game in the NHL, and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-3 at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.

"Yeah, probably my confidence is as high as it's been]*
"We like our team, but we still think there's a ton of growth from within," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "We think we can play a lot better and we look forward to that. We really feel we can play a lot better."
Jack Eichel scored twice, Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist, and Rasmus Dahlin had two assists for the Sabres (29-25-8), who are 1-4-1 in their past six games and trail the Carolina Hurricanes by six points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

Carter Hutton allowed three goals on 12 shots before being pulled in the second period. He was replaced by Linus Ullmark, who made 19 saves.
"I really liked the way we started the game. In the first period we get a big power-play goal, outshoot them 16-6, [had more chances than] them 9-2," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "We talked about expecting a push from them. But it's not really what they did, it's what we didn't do."
Eichel gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 19:07 of the first period when he took a pass from Reinhart in the high slot and scored blocker side on the power play.
"We didn't really like our first period and knew we had to be better if we wanted to get any points," Andersen said. "Teams come in here and expect to bring their best game. We have to be able to match that from the beginning. Once we get going, I think we're hard to match. We don't want to be chasing every game."
Tavares tied it 1-1 at 3:48 of the second period on a redirection of Jake Muzzin's point shot at the top of the crease.

Matthews gave Toronto a 2-1 lead at 5:24. He tried to center the puck from behind the net, but it hit Sabres forward Evan Rodrigues' skate and he got to the loose puck and scored from below the right circle.
Gauthier scored 28 seconds later to make it 3-1 on a backhand in the slot, and Ennis extended the lead to 4-1 at 13:02, taking a stretch pass from Gauthier and scoring on a breakaway.
"I don't know, we had seven or eight minutes of bad hockey where we let them get behind us and that was it," Eichel said. "We just had to stop letting them get behind us. They're a good transition team. We all know that. It's something we scouted before the game, so you have to take care of the puck and whenever they get the puck, they're looking to go. They had too many odd-man rushes in the second period and it cost us the game."
Reinhart cut it to 4-2 at 17:25 on a 5-on-3 power play, and Eichel scored nine seconds into the third period to make it 4-3.
Kapanen scored a shorthanded goal with 2:18 remaining to put the Maple Leafs ahead 5-3.

They said it

"He's played tremendous for us the last two games. He's been such a key part of our team this year, so you can't really blame [Hutton] for some of the stuff that was happening. He's keeping us in most games that we're in. They get a breakaway, they're scoring their goals from right inside the hash marks. That's on us, not [Hutton]."-- Sabres captain Jack Eichel on goalie Carter Hutton being pulled
"It's pretty humbling. Luckily in my first years I've played with great players on any given night, guys who can move the puck and make plays, and it allows me to do what I do. I'm kind of a shoot first guy, try to score and it's kind of how I've always been. I'm fortunate to be able to score at this level and it's very humbling to be in that category." -- Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews on becoming the first player in Toronto history to score at least 30 goals in each of his first three NHL seasons

Need to know

Eichel became the third player in Sabres history to score at least 20 goals in each of his first four seasons, joining Richard Martin (1971-80) and Thomas Vanek (2005-13). … Jake Gardiner's assist on Gauthier's goal was his 200th in the NHL.

What's next

Sabres:At the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NBCSP, NHL.TV)
Maple Leafs: Host the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; SN, TVAS, NHL.TV)