Leafs Earn Rare Win In Buffalo

Joey Crabb nets the game winning goal against Ryan Miller.
(Photo by Rob Marczynski/NHLI via Getty Images)

All good things must come to an end sometime.  Joey Crabb of the Toronto Maple Leafs played the role of spoiler Wednesday night at HSBC Arena.  Midway through the third period with the Sabres trailing by one, a hooking call gave Buffalo the power play and the momentum after they successfully killed off Toronto's two-man power play just moments before.  A TV-timeout gave the teams enough time to plan their strategies as the crowd was getting fired up.  Thirty-four seconds into the power play, Tim Connolly lost the puck in the neutral zone and Joey Crabb entered the zone scoring on a wrist-shot from 19-feet out to Miller's left.  Buffalo had allowed their league-leading 11th shorthanded goal against and were now trailing by two.

Paul Gaustad scored Buffalo's lone goal two minutes later to bring the deficit back to one.  But that would be all we would see from the offense as they were limited to only four shots the remainder of the game.  A few desperation scoring chances in the last minute gave the game an exciting finish with Miller pulled and the extra-attacker on the ice but the Sabres fell short.  Toronto took home a victory on a trip to Buffalo for the first time since Dec. 12, 2008.  Toronto is now 6-2-1 in their last nine games and knocking on Buffalo's door in the standings trailing by four points.  Buffalo fell to 4-1-1 in their last six.  "Tonight was a tough one for us," Sabres goalie Ryan Miller said. "They played a little bit of a smarter game than we've seen from them in the past."  Miller made 28 saves on 30 shots.

The loss knocked down the Sabres' playoff odds 5.8 to 47.1%.  Luckily the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers also suffered losses.  The Sabres remain two points back of the eighth and final playoff spot but still have two games in hand.  Surprisingly, Buffalo is a much better road team this season than they are at home.  They are (12-13-2) at HSBC Arena and (15-10-4) on the road.  The Sabres will look to rebound Friday as their home stand continues against the St. Louis Blues at 7:30pm EST.  Thursday night features four more games that will affect the Sabres' playoff odds.  The L.A. Kings visit the New York Rangers, the Edmonton Oilers play host to the Montreal Canadiens, the Atlanta Thrashers visit the Phoenix Coyotes, and the Washington Capitals travel to the San Jose Sharks.  There are only eleven days until the trade deadline (should the Sabres make any moves?) and the beginning of the toughest month of hockey.  In the meantime, would you ever want to work for the Sabres?  What would be your dream job within the organization?  Take a look at Mike Schopp's take.