Buffalo 3, Toronto 2 (OT)
Sabres grind out win over Maple Leafs
Miller makes 33 saves, Connolly scores winner
Tim Connolly called it the best win of the year. Why? Because the Buffalo Sabres probably should have lost.
The first-place Sabres admitted this week they won't be the best team every night. There will be stretches in which the opponent takes control and dominates. What matters most is who's ahead at the end.
The Sabres certainly were not the best team Friday night. The Toronto Maple Leafs were. But when the crowd of 18,300 filtered out of HSBC Arena, all that mattered was the Sabres had secured a 3-2 overtime win.
Connolly had two goals and three points, including the game-winner 1:04 into overtime to drop a hard-charging Leafs squad.
"That's a huge win for us," Connolly said. "We've been playing really well and outshooting teams, and they came out, played real well and had momentum for most of the game. I think that's our best win of the year, just being able to pull through when things aren't going so well."
Toronto swarmed the Buffalo zone for long stretches, dominating everyone in Blue and Gold with one exception — Ryan Miller. The goaltender turned aside 33 shots, including 15 in the third period.
"The result is a win, and that's what we want every night," Sabres defenseman Chris Butler said. "It wasn't our best effort, but you look at Millsie, that's a guy you want to have back there in a game like that."
The Sabres boarded the team charter immediately after the game and visit the New York Islanders tonight in Nassau Coliseum. Given Miller's busy night Friday, it wouldn't be a surprise to see the Sabres turn to backup Patrick Lalime for his second start of the season. Whichever goaltender is in the crease, he'll need to be good.
Coach Lindy Ruff said several unnamed players are likely to be unavailable for tonight's game because of illness. Defenseman Nathan Paetsch is probably going to play forward because of low numbers, while blue-liner Andrej Sekera will come off the injured list.
"Other teams have got to go through it, and we're going to have to just go through it," Ruff said. "We're going to have to hang in real tough and play a tough, gritty game [tonight] to come out with points because right now I don't like where the energy level is on the team."
Friday's victory was the fourth straight for the Sabres, who have won eight of the past nine games to improve to 8-1-1. While Connolly thought it was the best, it wasn't the prettiest.
The first period had more penalties than excitement, with a steady stream of players to the box resulting in a game of dump and chase. Each team, though, managed to use one power play to its advantage.
The Sabres struck first, getting their first five-on-three goal of the season. Drew Stafford rushed the crease to bury a rebound with 4:49 left in the first.
Another five-on-three was cut short by Stafford's high-sticking penalty, and the Leafs tied the game just as he stepped out of the box. Miller never saw Ian White's high blast from the right circle as Alexei Ponikarovsky parked himself at the top of the Buffalo crease a minute before intermission.
The tight defensive play of the first period deteriorated in the second. Buffalo was the only team to use that to its benefit.
The goalies held the upper hand on the run of breakaways and odd-man rushes until Connolly scored midway through. Jason Pominville intercepted a cross-ice pass in the Buffalo zone. He looked up to spot Connolly and hit him in stride at the far blue line for a breakaway goal.
The third period was all Toronto. The Leafs took the first 11 shots and 13 of the first 14. Miller swatted away one-timers and point-blank chances until only 37.3 seconds remained. Mikhail Grabovski tipped Tomas Kaberle's point shot past Miller, giving the vocal Leafs backers reason to think they'd walk out with a well-deserved comeback win.
Then Connolly connected from the point on a high power-play shot to allow the Sabres' roll to continue.
"If he shoots more he's probably a 30-, 40-goal scorer," Ruff said. "It's great to win those games when you're not sharp."
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