There was another early goal in a Leafs game this year, but this time it was Toronto that scored, taking a lead inside the first two minutes.

They held on for most of the remainder of the game, but with less than five minutes to go, Evander Kane scored an equalizer. After the Leafs weren’t able to score after a number of overtime chances, the game went to a shoot-out, and the Leafs suffered their second such defeat of the year.

The Leafs were the better team for most of the game in possession, and only in the final minutes of the third period did Buffalo move ahead in Corsi. The Sabres dominated the final period, especially the last ten minutes, after the Leafs did pretty well to keep them under control for the first forty minutes. The Leafs were beaten out in the neutral zone, and for a third straight game weren’t particularly effective at generating controlled entries.

Team Chances 1st 2nd 3rd OT ES ESClose ESCh% NZEnt% ContEnt OppContEnt Tor 16 2 5 3 6 14 7 51.9% 48.2% 38.0% 42.4% Buf 23 5 6 11 1 13 4 48.1% 51.8% - -

Buffalo’s power-play was the main source of their offense for much of the first two periods, as Toronto did a good job of limiting their ES chances, However, when Buffalo began to make a more serious push in the final frame, the Leafs struggled, out-chanced 9-1 in the last twelve minutes of the game, including 7-1 at ES. After a slow start to the overtime, the pairing of Van Riemsdyk and Kadri caused a lot of trouble, and the Leafs were somewhat unlucky not to get a winner.

Period Time ST SO Team How State T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 O1 O2 O3 O4 O5 O6 1 18:32 0 0 Tor GOAL! Parenteau deflects Polak shot ES 15 33 40 45 46 52 6 9 15 31 46 88 1 12:20 1 0 Buf Moulson from O'Rielly SH 2 16 26 44 45 23 26 31 46 63 90 1 12:05 1 0 Buf Moulson wide from loose puck SH 2 16 26 44 45 23 26 31 46 63 90 1 11:22 1 0 Buf Moulson from loose puck SH 2 16 26 44 45 23 26 31 46 63 90 1 09:57 1 0 Buf Foligno drives ES 21 43 44 45 47 52 3 28 29 31 44 82 1 04:57 1 0 Tor Kadri wide from Komarov ES 3 21 43 45 47 52 3 22 29 31 44 88 1 04:31 1 0 Buf Deslauriers from Ennis ES 15 33 40 45 46 52 4 22 31 44 55 63 2 17:11 1 0 Tor Harrington wide from loose puck ES 16 19 36 40 45 46 3 22 26 29 31 44 2 16:08 1 0 Tor Van Riemsdyk from loose puck ES 2 3 21 43 45 47 4 23 31 55 63 90 2 14:32 1 0 Tor Van Riemsdyk from rebound PP 3 15 19 21 43 45 22 29 31 55 90 2 11:46 1 0 Tor Lupul wide from loose puck ES 2 3 16 19 26 45 6 12 31 46 82 90 2 11:14 1 0 Buf Kane wide from rebound SH 2 33 40 44 45 9 12 15 31 55 88 2 10:10 1 0 Buf Moulson from Reinhart SH 23 26 44 45 46 23 26 31 46 63 90 2 10:04 1 0 Buf O'Rielly wide from loose puck SH 23 26 44 45 46 23 26 31 46 63 90 2 09:19 1 0 Buf Foligno from Deslauriers ES 2 21 43 45 46 47 4 28 31 44 55 82 2 07:17 1 0 Tor Holland wide from Van Riemsdyk ES 2 3 23 24 43 45 6 9 15 31 46 88 2 01:15 1 0 Buf Eichel drives wide ES 23 28 33 36 44 45 3 9 15 29 31 63 2 00:07 1 0 Buf Reinhart drives SH 16 40 44 45 46 23 26 31 46 63 90 3 19:29 1 0 Tor Grabner wide from loose puck SH 26 40 44 45 46 9 12 15 31 55 88 3 18:58 1 0 Buf Eichel from loose puck SH 23 26 44 45 46 9 12 15 31 55 88 3 13:44 1 0 Buf Ennis drives ES 2 3 16 19 26 45 6 23 31 46 63 90 3 12:03 1 0 Tor Spaling from Winnik ES 2 3 16 19 26 45 6 9 31 46 63 90 3 10:31 1 0 Buf Eichel wraparound ES 21 36 43 45 46 47 6 15 23 31 46 82 3 10:25 1 0 Buf Reinhart wide from rebound ES 21 36 43 45 46 47 6 15 23 31 46 82 3 10:12 1 0 Buf Girgensons deflects Weber shot ES 24 28 33 44 45 52 6 12 26 28 31 46 3 08:29 1 0 Buf Kane wraparound ES 26 43 44 45 46 47 3 9 22 29 31 63 3 06:18 1 0 Buf Ennis from loose puck ES 2 16 19 26 45 46 6 15 31 46 63 90 3 06:12 1 0 Buf Franson from Ennis ES 2 16 19 26 45 46 6 15 31 46 63 90 3 04:29 1 0 Buf GOAL! Kane from giveaway ES 21 43 44 45 46 47 4 9 26 28 31 55 3 03:56 1 1 Buf Reinhart deflects O'Reilly shot SH 2 16 40 44 45 23 26 31 46 63 90 3 02:28 1 1 Buf Gionta deflects McCabe shot SH 16 23 36 45 46 9 12 15 29 31 46 3 00:22 1 1 Tor Komarov wraparound wide ES 3 21 43 44 45 47 3 9 12 15 29 31 4 04:21 1 1 Buf Kane from O'Rielly ES 16 26 44 45 9 31 55 90 4 04:06 1 1 Tor Rielly drives ES 21 43 44 45 15 31 55 63 4 03:35 1 1 Tor Kadri drives ES 3 21 43 45 3 15 31 63 4 01:33 1 1 Tor Kadri from Van Riemsdyk ES 21 43 44 45 15 31 55 63 4 01:19 1 1 Tor Van Riemsdyk drives wide ES 21 43 44 45 15 31 55 63 4 00:07 1 1 Tor Hunwick wide from Van Riemsdyk ES 2 21 43 45 15 31 55 90 4 00:01 1 1 Tor Van Riemsdyk wide from Kadri ES 21 43 44 45 15 31 55 90

Leafs Player Data

Player ESChF ESChA ESCh% ESTOI ZS% NZ% ContEnt OppContEnt Grabner 2 1 66.7% 08:36 100.0% 33.3% 33.3% 44.4% Van Riemsdyk 9 5 64.3% 19:04 66.7% 52.1% 48.6% 38.2% Kadri 10 6 62.5% 20:01 66.7% 51.9% 47.5% 37.8% Parenteau 1 1 50.0% 09:04 100.0% 44.4% 18.8% 45.0% Lupul 3 3 50.0% 14:06 44.4% 44.7% 42.9% 38.5% Matthias 1 1 50.0% 10:32 0.0% 52.9% 27.8% 37.5% Holland 1 1 50.0% 11:20 0.0% 47.1% 25.0% 33.3% Spaling 3 4 42.9% 16:19 44.4% 41.8% 39.1% 50.0% Komarov 3 6 33.3% 16:55 70.0% 50.7% 44.1% 39.4% Winnik 2 5 28.6% 15:15 44.4% 47.2% 36.0% 50.0% Arcobello 1 3 25.0% 08:26 85.7% 50.0% 21.4% 42.9% Boyes 0 2 0.0% 09:58 0.0% 55.2% 12.5% 30.8% Phaneuf 7 1 87.5% 16:50 77.8% 47.0% 35.5% 40.0% Hunwick 5 4 55.6% 23:40 75.0% 45.5% 42.5% 45.8% Rielly 5 6 45.5% 18:35 35.3% 50.0% 39.4% 42.4% Marincin 2 3 40.0% 14:05 50.0% 52.4% 27.3% 25.0% Harrington 1 3 25.0% 15:19 33.3% 44.4% 29.2% 53.3% Polak 2 8 20.0% 16:55 75.0% 50.9% 37.0% 30.8%

While a lot of their good chance numbers come down to the overtime period, it was still a strong game from Nazem Kadri and James Van Riemsdyk, who were the only forwards to really make a consistent offensive impression. They weren’t as good during regulation, as you can see from the numbers of their most regular line-mate, Leo Komarov. Despite that, they were the line on for the critical tying goal, part of their most common match-up against the Kane line. You can also see how the top line was easily the most effective in the neutral zone, with a much higher percentage of controlled entries than the rest of the forwards.

Michael Grabner was the only other Leaf to finish positive in chances, but played relatively little at ES, with his most effective work coming as part of a successful series of penalty kills. Daniel Winnik, Nick Spaling and Joffrey Lupul matched up mostly against the Ennis line, and they had the worst numbers at preventing zone entries.

Dion Phaneuf’s defensive numbers are really impressive, as he was on for only a single ES chance against over the course of the game, continuing his strong showings so far this season.

Roman Polak ended up with the worst numbers, as during the third period he had several poor shifts, with a variety of defensive partners. It also wasn’t a great game for Scott Harrington, who played a lot with Morgan Rielly, but wasn’t able to defend the neutral zone very well.