The Toronto Maple Leafs' well documented struggles in Buffalo continued last night, losing 3-1 to the division-rival Sabres. Ryan Miller made his triumphant return from injury and nabbed 35 saves to stymie the Buds yet again. The Buffalo goaltender has a career save percentage of .930 against Toronto, including a .955% since the start of the 2008-09 season. Jonas Gustavsson had another solid outing at the other end of the rink (stopping 25 of 28 pucks), only to be hung out to dry by his teammates on multiple occasions. The score could have been much worse without several impressive saves by #50. These games are becoming a bit of a trend when Gustavsson is in net. As James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail wrote last night:
The Leafs' lack of offence with Gustavsson in goal continues a trend, one which has seen him post a 3-0-1 record when his team scores more than one goal, something Toronto has failed to do in five of his nine starts. The Leafs have scored only three goals in Gustavsson's five regulation losses this season.
Last year, the Leafs would have killed for the kind of goaltending they've been getting from Gustavsson. And now....they can't score. Phil Kessel's lazy and selfish play as of late is not helping the situation either. The good news is that the Leafs get a slumping Ottawa team in Toronto tonight.
Saturday links after the jump...
Saturday links:
Recap from LeafsHQ
"Miller Time" once again for Leafs
MLHS takes a examines last night's loss as well
The Kessel-Wilson relationship
VLM has some interesting thoughts on the future interactions between the coach and his only goal scorer
Plus more from Vintage Leafs
Baby Leafs win again despite being outshot
