Leafs double-up Sabres for third straight win

Field Level Media|published: Fri 20th December, 22:07 2024

Dec 20, 2024; Buffalo, New York, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Matt Murray (30) makes a save on Buffalo Sabres right wing Alex Tuch (89) during the second period at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images

William Nylander scored and added two assists as the Toronto Maple Leafs doubled up the host Buffalo Sabres 6-3 on Friday night.

Bobby McMann, Max Domi and Nicholas Robertson each scored a goal and an assist. Auston Matthews and Max Pacioretty also scored for the Leafs, who have won three straight.

Toronto improved to 13-1-1 when scoring first this season.

Matt Murray, making his first NHL start in 628 days after being recalled from the AHL's Toronto Marlies on Friday, made 24 saves for his seventh career victory over the Sabres.

JJ Peterka, Mattias Samuelsson and Owen Power scored for Buffalo, which has lost 12 straight (0-9-3).

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed four goals on 13 shots before being replaced by James Reimer, who stopped 14 of 15 shots.

McMann opened the scoring 1:29 into the first, one-timing a Domi feed past Luukkonen.

Alex Tuch appeared to have tied the game 1:05 later, but the goal was disallowed as Jason Zucker was assessed a double-minor for high-sticking Chris Tanev prior to the Sabres scoring.

Toronto doubled its lead on the ensuing power play as Matthews snapped a Nylander feed past Luukkonen at 6:05.

Robertson made it 3-0, snapping a shot five-hole past Luukkonen at 1:53 of the second period.

Peterka responded 29 seconds later, handcuffing Murray with a wrist shot glove-side.

Toronto restored the three-goal lead at 4:27 of the second period, with Domi one-timing a McMann pass past Luukkonen for his third of the season. That ended Luukkonen's night.

Pacioretty tipped in a Nylander cross-ice feed past Reimer at 10:47 of the second, giving the Leafs a 5-1 lead.

Buffalo pulled to within three when Samuelsson snapped a shot past Murray at 15:56 of the second.

Power tapped in the rebound off of Jiri Kulich's shot with 8:04 left in the game to pull Buffalo to 5-3.

The Sabres blue liner thought he'd pulled Buffalo to within one, one-timing a Rasmus Dahlin pass past Murray with 3:26 remaining. But Toronto successfully challenged for goaltender interference, negating the goal.

Nylander added an empty netter with 19.1 seconds remaining.

Dahlin returned after missing seven games with back spasms. The defenseman finished with 27:33 of ice time.

--Field Level Media

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