BUFFALO—The Leafs’ past caught up to them here Friday night.

The present is also causing mounting concern.

Minus their top three centres, the Leafs showed signs of wear and tear in a 3-1 loss to the new-look Buffalo Sabres. Toronto has only two goals in five-on-five play over the last six games.

Centres Tyler Bozak — who might return to practice Saturday, but can’t come off injured reserve until Nov. 21 — and Dave Bolland have been out for more than a week with long-term injuries, while Nazem Kadri was starting a three-game suspension for colliding with Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom.

Coach Randy Carlyle made a shrewd move, placing freshly called up Marlie Trevor Smith in the middle on the second line. Smith responded with the Leafs’ only goal. The Leafs have also shifted winger James van Riemsdyk to centre from the wing for the past four games, but while he has put in an admirable effort while playing the position for the first time in his NHL career, his production has dropped off dramatically — no goals since the switch.

Granted, Sabres defenceman Christian Ehrhoff robbed him of one by jumping into the crease, after a great Ryan Miller save, to take away a sure goal. Ehrhoff then potted an empty-netter to seal the victory with 28 seconds left.

Asked if he might rethink playing van Riemsdyk in the middle, Carlyle replied: “I don’t have anything else.”

Said van Riemsdyk: “That’s not for me to decide.”

The Leafs have built a solid record at 11-7-1, but have lost three of their last four in part because the power play has been dismal of late.

“You look at the difference in the game and it was the power play. They got a goal and we didn’t get one,” said Carlyle. “What we could do is shoot the puck more, plain and simple. Don’t try to be so fine. It seems like we’re trying to pick the top corner, pick out spots too much. We should be quicker and get the puck on net and we’d be rewarded more. We felt we played well, but we weren’t rewarded for it.”

Toronto has lost 12 of its last 14 visits to Buffalo. Miller has now beaten the Leafs 30 times, his personal high against any team.

And then there’s this: in home-and-home series against the Leafs — the teams meet again Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre — Buffalo hasn’t lost its home game since 1970.

It was a banner debut for Buffalo coach Ted Nolan and president of hockey operations Pat LaFontaine, who were introduced Wednesday after ownership whisked out coach Ron Rolston and longtime GM Darcy Regier in the wake of a 4-15-1 start.

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