Postgame Report

A pair of disallowed goals and costly puck decisions proved to be the difference as the Buffalo Sabres’ comeback effort fell short in a 6-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at KeyBank Center on Friday.

The Sabres had goals taken off the board in the first and third periods. The first, which would have tied the score at 1-1, was disallowed due to a double-minor penalty against Jason Zucker for high-sticking. The other, scored from the point by Owen Power, would have cut the deficit to 5-4 with 3:27 remaining. That one was overturned following a successful challenge for goaltender interference.

Instead, William Nylander scored into an empty net to cap a three-point performance and end the Sabres’ comeback bid during the final minute. The loss extended the Sabres’ winless streak to 12 games at 0-9-3.

“That's where we're at right now,” said Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin, who returned to the lineup after missing seven games with an injury. “We score five, but two get disallowed. But we can't hang our heads. We did this to ourselves. We’ve got to work.”

Rasmus Dahlin speaks to the media

Bobby McMann opened the scoring for Toronto on an odd-man rush just 1:29 into the contest. Less than two minutes later, the high-sticking call against Zucker amounted to a two-goal swing in the Maple Leafs’ favor.

Zucker’s stick had caught Chris Tanev as he skated through the Toronto zone, but the play was not whistled dead and the Sabres maintained possession. Six seconds later, Zucker delivered a pass to Alex Tuch for what was initially celebrated as the game-tying goal.

Officials convened and disallowed the goal, ruling that the linesman on the ice had witnessed a double-minor penalty against Zucker. Auston Matthews scored with 30 seconds remaining on the ensuing four-minute power play.

Instead of a 1-1 tie, the Sabres found themselves trailing 2-0 less than seven minutes into the game.

Zucker said he did not receive an explanation as to why the penalty was called after play had continued. Rule 32.4 in the NHL rulebook states that linespersons can report to referees upon the completion of a play for certain infractions including major penalties, match penalties, and misconduct penalties, but continues as follows:

“The Linesperson must stop play immediately and report to the Referees when it is apparent that an injury has resulted from a high-stick that has gone undetected by the Referees and requires the assessment of a double-minor penalty.”

“I’ve never seen that before, to be honest,” Zucker said. “Yeah, I don’t know what else to say. It’s something I’ve never seen happen.”

The penalty undid what had been a timely response from Buffalo’s veteran top line.

“We bounced right back, that line goes out and scores the would’ve been the tying goal, it goes the other way, a double minor,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “We’ve almost got the penalty killed and we had three failed clears. Again, you know when you don’t get it down the ice it’s going to kill you.”

Lindy Ruff speaks to the media

The Sabres received goals from JJ Peterka and Mattias Samuelsson during the second period but allowed three to the Maple Leafs, all of which were scored in odd-man situations. The Maple Leafs had five high-danger chances in the period, according to Natural Stat Trick.

"Shooting ourselves in the foot," Samuelsson said. "Poor puck management. To be honest, I don't think Toronto did anything crazy to beat us. We kind of did it to ourselves. They're good team, they have good players. If you feed their transition game, they're obviously going to capitalize. So, yeah, just shooting ourselves in the foot."

“We’ve got to make better decisions with the puck and make sure we’re helping each other out,” Zucker added. “If you’re going for an offensive play and you’re expecting somebody to make a certain play and they don’t and it gets turned over, you’re typically in a bad defensive spot. So, you’ve got to be careful.”

Ruff pulled goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen following Toronto’s fourth goal, a shot to the corner scored by Max Domi from the slot. The Sabres coach said he will consider starting Luukkonen again on Saturday night in Boston.

“I would, for sure,” he said. “This isn’t about UPL. Really, let’s be serious. He was exposed to pretty high quality. This is on our group.”

The Sabres kept pushing during the third period and chipped into the lead when Power pinched down low in the offensive zone and buried a rebound with 8:04 remaining.

Power’s next goal – which would have brought the Sabres within one – was overturned following a lengthy review for goalie interference. Officials ruled that Sam Lafferty’s skate contacted goaltender Matt Murray’s stick and “impaired his ability to play his position in the crease.”

Here’s more from the loss.

FINAL | Maple Leafs 6 - Sabres 3

1. Dahlin skated a game-high 27:33 and had 11 shot attempts – including five on goal – in his return to the lineup.

2. Lafferty also returned from a nine-game absence stemming from a lower-body injury and skated 8:16. He replaced Jordan Greenway, who is expected to miss “significant” time after having surgery to repair a middle-body injury.

3. Tage Thompson fought Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly during the first period, the result of consecutive hard hits from Samuelsson and Thompson on Toronto captain Auston Matthews. Reilly challenged Thompson to the fight in response to the latter hit and, as a result, was given a roughing minor to send the Sabres to the power play.

Buffalo finished the game 0-for-2 with the extra man.

Up next

The Sabres play two road games before breaking for the holidays, beginning with a visit to Boston on Saturday. Coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 7.