TORONTO – Until I finally did it again Wednesday morning, the last time I crossed the Canadian border was on March 10, 2020. I was going to a hockey game. Tampa Bay at Toronto. We knew something was up in the world that day. We just didn't know exactly what.
Coronavirus was just becoming part of our lexicon. The NHL, like all sports leagues, had shut locker rooms to the media, but we still just stood next to players – unmasked – and talked to them in the hallways instead.
The Sabres (17-30-8) snapped their six-game skid in their first trip to Toronto since Dec. 17, 2019 and beat the Maple Leafs for only the third time in their last 11 meetings.
On March 9, former Sabres defenseman Jake McCabe blankly said, "Stay away from you guys" when I asked him what team officials had told players about this unknown virus and media interactions.
He was kidding. I think. And as we later learned, based on our respective ages, I probably should have been staying away from him.
A media note: As it turned out, the Sabres' shootout win that night over Washington was the last time we ever talked to Jack Eichel in person. Everything else with him over his final 14 months with the team was via video call.
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The Leafs-Lightning game of March 10 was a similar kind of surreal scene. Lots of uneasiness. Interviews in hallways. A 2-1 Toronto win that turned into the last one of the teams' regular season.
The next night was the Rudy Gobert drama at the Utah-Oklahoma City NBA game. The night after that, the Sabres were in Montreal, but never got to the Bell Centre for their game as the season was suspended.
It’s a slate that has the potential to drive fans mad, as the franchise’s focus is on the future, rather than a playoff drought that will reach a league-record 11 seasons.
(Memo to Buffalo News bosses: Never used the quotes for that Lightning column. Sorry. A global pandemic got in the way. Would have been a good piece, too. They won the Stanley Cup, albeit six months later in the Edmonton bubble, just like I was going to write.)
Finally made it back to Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday, a mere 722 days later. The Leafs have Stanley Cup hopes again but, of course, they need to worry about winning a first-round series at some point with this core. Walk before you can run, boys.
With their first full house since Dec. 11 and a chance to take over first place in the Atlantic Division theirs for the taking, the Leafs laid an egg. But for the Sabres, the 5-1 victory in their first trip to Toronto since Dec. 17, 2019, rates as a signature road win on their season.
Despite six straight losses, the Sabres were resolute at the morning skate. Kyle Okposo flatly said the team had to play on its toes, and not from its heels, or the Leafs would run Buffalo out of the building.
Prophetic words. The lines of Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens had strong first shifts, and it set a tone for the entire game. Thompson (No. 23) and Jeff Skinner (No. 21) had goals as the Sabres' top line laid waste to red-hot Toronto stars Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, who combined for one assist.
"If we back off teams, whatever we think is going to be bad is going to get way worse," coach Don Granato said after the beatdown. "Tonight is a perfect example. We have to play that way. We have to play that aggressive. It's the best way to develop to get better and learn. When you back off, you don't learn anything and you lose your confidence pretty fast."
The Sabres are averaging just 8,657 tickets sold per game in the 19,070-seat arena for their 26 home games thus far, and in-house crowds have been far fewer than that some games.
There were heroes all around in this one. Eleven players had points. Craig Anderson made 29 saves and was simply in control in the crease. He's at 298 career wins and you can tell the entire dressing room is pulling hard for him to get to 300. Mark Pysyk blocked six shots. Jacob Bryson was an interesting story, playing 20:24 alongside Rasmus Dahlin, scoring the game's first goal, and finishing plus-2.
With a 3-1 lead through 40 minutes thanks to Thompson's goal at 18:31 of the second period, the Sabres didn't fall apart. That ungodly stat of an NHL-high nine losses when leading after two periods didn't mean a thing. For once.
"We've been there before. We know how it feels," Bryson said. "Tonight was an all-around good game. We learned how to play with a lead there. Hopefully in the future, we can do the same thing and win a lot more games when we're up by a goal or two."
The trip up here was odd. Felt like last week at times. Felt like years ago at others. Not a single car on the Lewiston-Queenston bridge approaching the Canadian customs booths. The drive along the Queen Elizabeth Way was familiar. The Garden City Skyway and Burlington Bay Skyway beckoned.
The team is asking for all renewal commitments to be made by April 25 to retain seats. Fans who renew are eligible for prizes to be awarded at each remaining game this season starting March 4.
An exit sign in Hamilton marked the way to Tim Horton's Field, where the Sabres and Leafs will play outdoors in 10 days. Around a curve past Highway 427 and the exit to Pearson Airport, you saw the CN Tower and downtown Toronto. On to the Gardiner Expressway. Past the Rogers Centre, looking forlorn thanks to Rob Manfred and his cronies.
Scotiabank Arena was just down the street. Matthews and Marner in giant bright lights on the video board outside. Legends Row, the incredible bronze life-size figures of Leafs greats behind and in front of "the bench", made for a great photo op.
#Leafs Legends Row is so wonderfully done. Always enjoy checking it out. pic.twitter.com/WuYA3C7yTH
— Mike Harrington (@ByMHarrington) March 2, 2022
You go inside and the legends have giant banners with beautiful black and white photos hanging from the rafters. I had Davey Keon, George Armstrong, Charlie Conacher and King Clancy staring me down the whole game from right in front of my seat high atop the blue line. But they were all up there, young and old. Bower and Broda. Salming, Sittler and Sundin. Horton and Gilmour.
The game was odd too. A big house ready to devour the Sabres and not getting remotely what they expected.
We'll be back on this side of the border in 10 days for the Heritage Classic. With 40,000 expected in the stands and nationwide television audiences in both countries. Something tells me the Leafs will put up a little different level of effort.
The Sabres will have to match them again. Bottle Wednesday's strategy and its execution.
