Owen Power ended a wild night in Toronto at 3:14 of overtime, snapping home a wrist shot from the top of the left circle to give the Buffalo Sabres a 5-4 comeback win over the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.
Key takeaways
- Buffalo erased a 4-2 deficit in the third period before Power finished the game in overtime.
- Jack Quinn drove the Sabres attack with two goals and two assists.
- Kirill Marchenko recorded a hat trick in his 300th NHL appearance, his first three-goal game for Toronto.
- Auston Matthews extended his point streak to six games with a first-period goal.
- John Tavares left in the third period after colliding with Buffalo forward Josh Norris.
Sabres find their late push
Power took a saucer pass from Quinn and beat Sergei Bobrovsky with the overtime winner, lifting Buffalo to 4-3-1 on the season. The Sabres are now 2-2-1 across their last five games.
Quinn’s four-point performance included the goal that made it 1-1 just 3:35 into the opening period. Zach Benson recovered a loose puck behind the Toronto net after Nick Blankenburg missed it, then fed Quinn in front for a finish between Bobrovsky’s pads.
After Toronto built its two-goal lead late in the second, Buffalo started its climb back at 10:05 of the third. Dennis Gilbert’s blue-line shot found its way through a screen and beat Bobrovsky on the glove side, cutting the margin to 4-3.
Mattias Samuelsson pulled the Sabres level 2:11 later. Tage Thompson supplied the pass, and Samuelsson picked the top corner over Bobrovsky’s blocker from the high slot. Samuelsson finished with a goal and an assist, while Benson and Noah Ostlund each contributed two assists.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 26 shots for Buffalo. Bobrovsky made 29 saves for Toronto, which moved to 3-3-2 and is 2-1-2 in its previous five outings.
Marchenko’s milestone night slips away
Matthews opened the scoring at 2:24 of the first. He kept the puck in at the blue line by knocking down a clearing attempt with his glove, moved it to Jack Roslovic, then headed to the crease to convert Roslovic’s return pass. Matthews has scored in three consecutive games and owns six goals and seven assists during his six-game points run.
Marchenko put Toronto back in front on the power play at 13:10 of the first. Set up by Tavares near the side of the net, Marchenko came off the goal line and lifted the puck between his legs over Luukkonen’s glove for a 2-1 lead.
Quinn’s second goal tied it at 2-2 early in the middle period. Ostlund sent a cross-ice pass to Quinn, who pulled the puck around Jake McCabe before firing from the top of the right circle.
Toronto responded at 11:13 of the second when Tavares knocked the puck loose along the boards. Marchenko collected it and went high glove side from the left circle. He completed the hat trick at 16:51, one-timing Colton Sissons’ pass from the slot after Sissons worked behind the Buffalo net.
The three-goal outing was Marchenko’s fifth NHL hat trick and his first in a Maple Leafs uniform, but Buffalo’s third-period push denied Toronto the finish.
Tavares, who had two assists, departed at 2:32 of the third after a collision with Norris. He stayed down for roughly 90 seconds, then skated to the dressing room under his own power alongside a trainer.
