Toronto Maple Leafs vs Buffalo Sabres
7 pm on TSN4 and MSG-B
Live for the Sabres? Die By the Blade

I used to dread Sabres games. I once wrote a fairly scathing history of the team’s decline in a preview once because what else was there to say about them? Now, in a good news/bad news way, the situation has changed. The good news is the Sabres are kinda fun now. The bad news is they sometimes have fun winning over the Leafs outside in the snow in Hamilton.

That was then, this is now, and the Leafs are going to the playoffs, the Sabres to the draft, and we’ll see how much good they can add to the fun next year. Tonight’s game is just one more step towards the playoffs.

Them

Jeff Skinner - Tage Thompson - Alex Tuch
Rasmus Asplund - Casey Mittelstadt - Victor Oloffson
Anders Bjork - Dylan Cozens - Vinnie Hinostroza
Zemgus Girgensons - Peyton Krebs - Kyle Okposo

Mattias Samuelsson - Rasmus Dahlin
Owen Power - Henri Jokiharju
Jacob Bryson - Casey Fitzgerald

Craig Anderson
Dustin Tokarski

Owen Power is in the lineup, and ready to play. That’s the entire point of the Sabres remaining games.

Their fourth line is a little (a lot) scary, but the middle six is very weak. Their top line can be very effective.

Us

Jake Muzzin is out, Erik Källgren is the starter, and Auston Matthews took yesterday off, but he is playing.

Michael Bunting - Auston Matthews - Mitch Marner
Ilya Mikheyev - John Tavares - Alexander Kerfoot
William Nylander - David Kämpf - Pierre Engvall
Nick Abruzzese - Colin Blackwell - Jason Spezza

Morgan Rielly - Timothy Liljegren
TJ Brodie - Justin Holl
Mark Giordano - Ilya Lyubushkin

Erik Källgren - confirmed starter
Jack Campbell

The news yesterday was Sheldon Keefe giving a full rundown on the health of all the players, something the Leafs haven’t done lately. They’re supposed to, and I wonder if they got told to be forthcoming.

  • Muzzin: not 100% with something unrelated to his prior injuries.
  • Kaše: diagnosed with a concussion, no timeline to return.
  • Sandin: working back from knee injury, week-to-week.
  • Campbell: not 100%, unrelated to his rib injury, just getting some rest./

The Game

No reason not to win it.

Go Leafs Go!

Game Coverage