The Toronto Maple Leafs headed down the QEW highway to visit the Buffalo Sabres for the final time in the 2023–24 NHL season. These two teams used to have more of a rivalry in the early 2000s, but that had seemed to die down a bit since around 2010 when the Sabres went into a rebuild and are just making their way out of it. Unfortunately, this season saw a lot of the same-style games.
The Sabres won the first game back on Nov. 4, 6-3, and the second game of the season on Dec. 21, 9-3, which may have been the more embarrassing loss of the season for the Maple Leafs. When the calendar changed, so did Toronto’s luck against Buffalo. On March. 6, 2024, the Maple Leafs beat the Sabres 2-1, and last night they attempted to tie the season series.
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The Maple Leafs jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a goal by John Tavares, scoring the only goal in the first period. The second saw another early goal by Nick Robertson to give them a 2-0 lead. In this period, we saw an incredible save from Ilya Samsonov, and then Auston Matthews gave his team a 3-0 lead and did what no other active NHL player has done: score 60 goals in two seasons.
The Maple Leafs stood tall and beat the Sabres 3-0 in a game that didn’t have much energy until Matthews scored his 60th. Not long after that, there was almost a line brawl that saw all five skaters on both sides receive a 10-minute misconduct.
The alteration happened after Sabres’ Rasmus Dahlin checked T.J. Brodie into the boards from behind. It sparked a response from all five Maple Leafs players on the ice, which you love to see as a fan of both teams, as something like this could reignite a rivalry.
Improved Penalty Kill
When Mitch Marner went down with an ankle injury, there were a lot of questions about how it would affect the team penalty kill (PK). Well, we now know that it hasn’t had a huge impact on the PK units, largely because of a trade deadline acquisition. Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving saw the same hole in their lineup as the rest of the Leafs Nation, which was a bottom-six player who could kill penalties. Just minutes before the 3:00 p.m. deadline on trade deadline day, he acquired Connor Dewar. Who has impacted the PK a ton and made it better? He is usually paired with David Kampf, one of Maple Leaf’s other top penalty killers, and together, they have helped turn things around.
The Maple Leafs have moved up to the 22nd spot in the NHL with a 77.2% PK percentage and look to be moving their way up the standings. They killed off five penalties last night against the Sabres, and if they can keep this going, they could continue to move up and potentially reach the top 20. Of course, things will only get better when Marner returns within the next few weeks. They also have Calle Jarnkrok, who is sidelined with an injury and plays on the PK. While Marner and Jarnkrok have been out of the lineup, there is also Bobby McMann, Pontus Holmberg, Noah Gregor, William Nylander, and Matthews, who have all played on the PK this season and have had flashes while they have been without two of their best penalty killers.
Goalie Battle
Unlike most springs for the Maple Leafs, the team typically appears to put it on cruise control and get by until the playoffs start. They have a few more questions this season than they have had in the past. There are forward and defensive line combinations, and what will they look like once the playoffs start? However, the most interesting question surrounding the Maple Leafs right now is: who starts game one in the net, Joseph Woll or Samsonov?
It is a very hard decision since they have both played fairly well as of late. Samsonov has completely turned it around since being called back up earlier this season. Especially last night against the Sabres, he posted his 13th career shutout and faced 34 shots, which included a potential save of the year.
While Woll has struggled a bit since returning from his high ankle sprain but has been so good for the Maple Leafs all season, it makes you wonder what the coaching staff thinks. Thankfully, for all of Leafs Nation, we aren’t responsible for making that very difficult decision.
It seems that Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe could be leaning towards using Woll just because he typically gets the tougher opponent. For me, I think about the two games they played against the Boston Bruins in early March, and it was Woll tasked with the starts. However, that could also be a strategy to keep Samsonov fresh and not cause him to lose confidence when facing tougher teams, especially this close to the end of the season. It may be a smart strategy for Keefe to keep the goalie he feels should start game one as high on himself as possible, but it could also backfire when Samsonov is forced to play the tougher teams he didn’t face this season in the playoffs.
It wouldn’t be surprising if Keefe splits the remaining games, with nine remaining this season. It could mean that Woll sees five games while Samsonov sees four. The only other question would be, what teams does Samsonov play against? The Maple Leafs play twice against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers, and I’d play him in at least two of those. He gets to face some stronger opponents if he is the game-one starter. The simple answer to who the starter for game one is is to be determined.
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Overall, the Maple Leafs played a very strong game from start to finish, which is what you want to see this late in the season. Last night, they had some playoff practice when they had a 2-0 lead late into the third and worked to hold the lead and win the game. Games like these are exactly what you want to experience late in the season when you are gearing up to go deep in the playoffs, and the Maple Leafs did well. They were able to hold down the fort and secure the win to tie the season series against the Sabres, two wins each.
The Maple Leafs are next in action Monday, April 1, against their potential first-round opponent, the Panthers, at 7:00 p.m.
