Sabres return home in preparation for visit from Leafs

Casey Mittelstadt counts himself among the players who look forward to visits from the Toronto Maple Leafs. The cross-border rivalry makes for a unique, raucous atmosphere with fans of both teams filling the KeyBank Center stands.
"The building seems to always be full, and the building seems to always be loud," Mittelstadt said. "It's kind of fun to have fans cheering for both sides. I think that's pretty rare in the NHL."
The skill of both teams should only intensify the rivalry when the Maple Leafs visit Buffalo on Tuesday. Toronto is firmly on its way to the playoffs and just added former Sabres forward Ryan O'Reilly to its roster. The Sabres are in the thick of the Wild Card race after consecutive wins on the West Coast.

Plus, it will be the one and only visit from the Maple Leafs this season. The Sabres visited Toronto once prior (a 5-2 loss in November) and conclude the season series there on March 13.

The Sabres took three of four games against the Maple Leafs last season, falling at home in November before picking up three wins in March. The victories included the outdoor Heritage Classic - which featured a cross-check from Auston Matthews on Rasmus Dahlin and a retaliatory hit from Dylan Cozens on the Maple Leafs' star - and Owen Power's NHL debut.
"To play them is exciting," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "I think our guys are very excited to play them"
The Sabres will be looking to build on the success they found out west. They dropped the opening game of the road trip to Los Angeles but responded with victories in Anaheim and San Jose.
"I think we're confident," Mittelstadt said. "I think we're a confident group no matter what. We've seen what we can do and we know what we can do. Obviously tomorrow's a big test and we're going to have to bring our A game, but at the same time I think just come out and play, work hard, and things should fall into place."
Here are more notes from Monday's practice.
1.Rasmus Dahlin and Henri Jokiharju were both given maintenance days.
2.Kale Clague left practice early due to an injury and was still being evaluated when Granato met with the media. Clague has played in each of the last three games.
3. The visit from the Maple Leafs begins a stretch of five games in eight days, including back-to-back road games against the Lightning and Panthers later this week. Granato emphasized the importance of staying in the moment amid a daunting schedule.
"Our guys have done a really good job to put us in a position that we should be really excited about," he said. "The moment we look past the next game, as I've said, this league is just too good (to do that)."