Live from Leafs at Sabres

Greetings from HSBC Arena, where the crowd gets a rise as the Canadian national anthem starts. Lots of Maple Leafs fans, and lots of empty seats in the corners of the 300 level.

No Paul Gaustad tonight for the Sabres, as he's out with flu-like symptoms. Lee Stempniak starting for the Leafs, and be sure to read his introduction to the Sabres' variable pricing plan in Saturday's notebook. Tim Kennedy starting for Sabres, and with Patrick Kaleta on bench, Bucky Gleason and I figure this must be the first time three local boys have all played in the same game downtown.

FIRST PERIOD

7:38 p.m: Game on. First "Go, Leafs, Go."

7:44 p.m.: First penalties are a pair of roughing calls with 3:46 gone to Kennedy and Ian White. It's a four-on-four, and the Sabres have put two shots on Jonas Gustavsson. "The Monster" from Sweden is making his first appearance in Buffalo.

7:47 p.m.: "Go, Leafs, Go" gains momentum, and the Buffalo fans respond with "boooo." Really? That's all you've got? I've always hated that. Why not try cheering louder than the Leafs backers rather than just booing? Might make the atmosphere more exciting.

7:48 p.m.: "Let's Go Buffalo" gets some calls.

7:52 p.m: First power play of the night goes to the Leafs, who have the best PP in the league. Craig Rivet is off for slashing with 11:30 left.

7:55 p.m.: Sabres kill the penalty with ease.

8:03 p.m.: Sabres get their first man advantage as Tomas Kaberle gets whistled for hooking with 6:03 to go. The shots are 6-4 in Toronto's favor.

8:04 p.m.: Now that's a really high-stick. Stempniak clips 6-foot-8 Tyler Myers to give Buffalo a 5-on-3.

8:05 p.m.: Just 13 seconds later, the Sabres take a 1-0 lead. Gustavsson stops Tim Connolly's shot, but Drew Stafford sends home the rebound with 4:49 to go.

8:06 p.m.: Another five-on-three, this time for 1:04 as Rickard Wallin gets tripping call with 4:06 left. Sabres call timeout to regroup.

8:09 p.m.: Sabres misfire, then Stafford takes high-sticking call with four seconds left in two-man advantage.

8:12 p.m.: Leafs tied the game at 1-1 with goal by Ian White. Alexei Ponikarovsky was parked in front when White fired high from the right circle with 1:07 left.

8:15 p.m.: End of one, 1-1. Leafs have 9-7 shot edge.

SECOND PERIOD

8:33 p.m.: And we're off...

8:36 p.m.: Colton Orr becomes the latest victim to retaliate against Kaleta and get a penalty, going to the box with 16:31 left.

8:38 p.m.: Ryan Miller stops Stempniak on short-handed breakaway with 16:03 to go.

8:40 p.m.: Sabres get chances, but no goal on long shift by Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy and Tyler Myers.

8:45 p.m.: The Monster stops Clarke MacArthur on breakaway with 12:03 left after Chris Butler sends pass to the winger.

8:49 p.m.: Great plays by Jason Pominville set up Tim Connolly for breakaway goal to give Sabres a 2-1 lead with 9:21 left. First, Pominville intercepts a cross-ice pass in his defensive zone. Then he sends a long pass to hit Connolly in stride at the far blue line, and Connolly scores his third of the season stickside.

8:57 p.m.: After sluggish affair early, chances and hitting picking up. Adam Mair and Kaleta rattle boards for Sabres, while Garnet Exelby flattens Kaleta with 5:38 to go. It's still 2-1, with Sabres holding a 19-15 shot edge.

9:06 p.m.: Miller makes stop on Francois Beauchemin at the buzzer to preserve the Sabres' 2-1 lead at the end of two. Sabres hold a 21-19 edge in shots.

THIRD PERIOD

9:24 p.m.: Just 22 seconds into the period, Myers goes off for hooking to give Toronto a fresh-ice power play.

9:27 p.m.: Ponikarovsky hits the post.

9:30 p.m.: Miller has been the best player on the ice tonight, with 24 saves through 44 minutes.

9:34 p.m.: Miller makes pad save on Stempniak with 14:20 to play. The shots are 9-0 this period so far.

9:35 p.m.: Leafs get another power play as Myers goes for holding with 13:33 left. Leafs are dominating everyone on Sabres with one exception -- Miller.

9:40 p.m.: Miller kills the penalty. There's 10 minutes left, and Toronto has a 13-1 shot advantage this period.

9:44 p.m.: Old friend Wayne Primeau goes off for tripping with 8:56 left, slowing the Leafs' momentum -- maybe.

9:58 p.m.: Mikhail Grabovksi sends the arena into bedlam with 37.3 seconds left, crossing in front and tipping a shot past Miller. The play is under review.

9:59 p.m.: Goal. Shots are 15-5.

10:32 p.m.; Sabres win in overtime on slap shot by Connolly.

POSTGAME

Connolly: "That’s a huge win for us. We’ve been playing really well and outshooting teams, and they came out, played real well and had momentum for most of the game. I think that’s our best win of the year, just being able to pull through when things aren’t going so well."

Chris Butler on Miller: "He was there for us again, but I don’t think we can get to the point where we have to rely on him to make a lot of spectacular saves every night. That’s just not fair to him."

Coach Lindy Ruff, who said Nathan Paetsch will likely play forward Saturday against the Islanders and Andrej Sekera will come off the injured list because several players are ill: "Other teams have got to go through it, and we’re going to have to just go through it.

"We’re going to have to hang in real tough and play a tough, gritty game [tonight] to come out with points because right now I don’t like where the energy level is on the team."

---John Vogl

Comments

[Buffalo Excuses]

Heckuva win. Toronto out played us but a win is a win. Scary I can actually type that phrase. Been a long time.

My rag doll prediction was a bust short of Orr chopping Miller. Good thing too as Gaustad was out. Nice to hear from Ruff that Mair has been supportive of the team despite lack of playing time. Thought he played well.

10 games in...

Are things REALLY changing???

Back to Back wins and 3 wins in 4 nights gets an awful lot of monkeys off of this teams back. Will show heart, determination and stones. Not beating the Isles was a major reason we missed playoffs...

BTW, Isles play 3 games in 4 nights too, so no exuse there.

[Vandy Adam]

Knowing our recent history of injuries to defensemen, I don't think we have to worry about having 8 defensemen for long.

[Jeff]

Now for the downside of keeping Myers.....8 defensemen on the roster when they need forwards.

Is it bad enough that we'll see Sekera at forward as well?

[Dan]

Hand not raised...

[Jeff]

Raise your hand if you think they win that game with Lalime in net.

[timmer923]

Awful 3rd period, but still get a W......yeah, TC looks good but he has to be injury free ALL SEASON! Then he can shed that moniker "glass"....

[Bill]

It shows you how good Connolly is. This was his first exemplary game of the year and you look at his stats and he has 10 points in 10 games. Did not realize that.

Good win. It sounds like the team is pretty ridden with the flu. Paetsch at forward, Sekera back in the lineup and "a couple" forwards not making the trip to the Island. Lalime probably in net. I'll take one point and run.

[Ken E]

Well, certainly not their finest game but it just goes to show how much of a momentum game hockey is.....an early penalty in the third followed by another one a couple of minutes later and before you know it, it's 10-0 in shots against you for the period. Leafs, as much as they have stunk for the last number of years have always played the Sabres tough, even in 05/06 and 06/07. Lots of Leaf fans to give momentum. I agree with the writer.....us Buffalo fans have to get much better at countering that whole Go Leafs Go garbage. But fortunately, the big money guys (Miller, Pom, Connolly) all came through big and the Sabres get a big two points. Good deal.

[Dan]

Thank you for showing up tonight Tim C. Its about time you took control of a game.

[Greg B.]

Hecht fails to clear and the puck ends up behind Miller. Look familiar?

Luckily, Timmah saves us. Frankly, I have no problem giving one point to a non-playoff team like the Leafs as long as we get the two points. Toronto is now 1-7-3 for 5 pts. If you assume 93 points is the baseline for making the playoffs, Toronto has to go 42-25-4 just to have a shot at the 8th seed. Goodnight, Leafs. Drive home safely.