Observations: It's crazy eights for Sabres as Leafs hand Buffalo its latest loss

It's eight losses in a row for the Blue and Gold after the Toronto Maple Leafs scored three goals in a 5½-minute span of the opening period and never looked back to post a 5-2 victory over Buffalo.

The Sabres had dominated the Leafs in three straight victories over Toronto late last season, including their 5-2 win at the NHL Heritage Classic outdoors at Tim Horton's Field in Hamilton. But this game was dramatically different, as the Leafs were better in every area. William Nylander scored two goals to lead the Toronto offense and Mitch Marner set up two others to extend his point streak to 12 games.

The Leafs improved to 6-1-2 in their last nine games and have pushed into second place in the Atlantic Division at 10-5-4 overall. Meanwhile, the Sabres are 7-11-0, seventh in the Atlantic and 28th in the NHL's overall standing.

"When it’s not bouncing your way, you've got to work even harder, so we can’t think about it," defenseman Rasmus Dahlin told reporters in Toronto. "(Sunday) we have a practice and we've got to work, it’s got to be my best practice of my life. I need to step up, the team needs to step, and it starts with practice habits. Yeah, we need to be better."

The Sabres finished with a 34-23 advantage in shots on goal in the game but many of them were easy, unscreened chances. Buffalo gave the Leafs too much open ice on many of their scoring plays, leaving Luukkonen with not much chance. 

"He kept us in it but we kept letting him down," said forward Alex Tuch.

In the end, Luukkonen finished with just 18 saves in the game. He had things under control with no score through 12 minutes, but John Tavares tipped a Marner shot at 12:58 of the first period, Calle Jarnkrok scored on an uncontested shot from the slot at 17:27 and Mark Giordano made it 3-0 on a controversial short-handed tally at 18:21 and that was pretty much that.

"You don't lose your confidence, you lose your determination," said coach Don Granato. "And we just have to be more determined. ... They'll get it fixed is my feeling with it. They're a capable group in there. You always every day put messages in front of your team as coaches but it's a competition and they've got to find a way to dig down. And they will. There's no question in my mind with this group. I think this is an unfortunate part of growing pains."

Here are some more observations on the game:

1. Not-so-special teams

The Sabres' goals both came on a power play as Dylan Cozens' shot deflected off Tuch and past Matt Murray at 10:01 of the second period to cut Buffalo's deficit to 3-1 and Casey Mittelstadt stuffed home a rebound with 4:53 left and the game hopelessly lost. Other than that, however, the special teams were a disaster.

The Leafs were 2 for 2 on the power play, with the Tavares deflection opening the scoring in the first period and Nylander getting his first goal at 14:50 of the second to put the Leafs up, 4-1. It took the Leafs just 13 seconds for Tavares to score and only 21 seconds for Nylander to convert.

The Sabres also were burned by Giordano's short-handed goal with 1:39 left in the first period which came after a 2-on-0 break. Tuch was trying to race back into the play but lost his balance and crashed into the net to knock it off its moorings.

Tuch was initially given a delay of game penalty but the NHL Situation Room in Toronto changed the call to an awarded goal because Giordano had an "imminent scoring opportunity."

"I was backchecking and dove to try to put some pressure on him, I tried to stop myself from going into the net and I fell into the net," Tuch said. "So they called it intentional net displacement ... and then they called it a goal."

That's nine straight games the Sabres have given up a power-play goal, while their own man-advantage units are just 3 for 20 the last four games.

"Boy, that was an odd one," Granato said of the Giordano goal. "But it went between that (post) and the pipe, so you're not going to hear a complaint out of me on that. Yeah, it was odd, but they worked for it."

Here’s the official ruling on third goal by NHL. Fair enough. My reaction: You see nets dislodged a lot when there’s a scoring chance and goals not awarded. Again, an only-in-Toronto call. Bet that one ain’t made in, say, Arizona. pic.twitter.com/GiUNwMgLYN

— Mike Harrington (@ByMHarrington) November 20, 2022

2. Lineup news

Defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, who has been out nearly a month with a knee injury, took regular turns in practice on Friday and the morning skate on Saturday but Granato insisted Friday he would be cautious with his young player and that was borne out. Samuelsson did not play Saturday.

"He wasn't going to convince me," Granato said after the morning skate. "I want him to have some more practice time. I think that's important coming off the injury he had and the length. I don't want to make a desperate decision and we're not in a desperate situation despite what it may be perceived. We can't afford to be putting him in until he's ready to go and I just don't think he's ready to go yet at a level he wants to play at and I want him to play at but I think it's only a matter of a couple more practices or a little bit more time."

3. Weather report

The Sabres got everybody to practice on Friday and thus on to the bus to Toronto. But Saturday's heavy snow prevented personnel from reporting to KeyBank Center to do the pregame and postgame show on the MSG telecast. Intermission host Brian Duff was able to make it to Toronto to host the between-periods proceedings from the arena as opposed to the studio.

"It's a winter wonderland," Granato said of things back home. "But it's interesting that a lot of people north of downtown are working to help people south of downtown where that storm was dumped. That’s the great thing about Buffalo, lots of really good people and great sense of community, so we're certainly thinking of those that are challenged with the snow."

4. Next

The Sabres stayed overnight in Toronto due to the weather and remain scheduled to practice Sunday in LECOM Harborcenter and Monday in KeyBank Center before heading to Montreal to meet the Canadiens on Tuesday night.