Sabres 3 - 4 Maple Leafs
Final
  for this game

Maple Leafs hang on to down Sabres

Apr 1, 2012 - 6:24 AM Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - John-Michael Liles and Joey Crabb registered a goal and an assist apiece, and the Toronto Maple Leafs hung on for a 4-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres to snap the longest home losing streak in franchise history.

Phil Kessel and Matt Frattin also lit the lamp for the Leafs, who had lost their last 11 games at Air Canada Centre.

Ben Scrivens made 29 saves in the win.

"Obviously everyone feels much better about themselves than they did two nights ago," Maple Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle said. "Hopefully that builds a little confidence in them."

Tyler Ennis, Ville Leino and Drew Stafford scored for Buffalo, which has lost two straight on the heels of a nine-game point streak.

Ryan Miller allowed four goals on 29 shots in defeat.

The Sabres are two points behind the Capitals, who defeated Montreal in a shootout Saturday, for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

"I think we worked hard and we had some good chances at the end," said Ennis. "But now we're just going to have to win the next three [games]."

Trailing 3-1 after two periods, Leino's backhander pulled Buffalo within a goal at the 6:48 mark of the final frame.

But Toronto regained its two-goal advantage midway through the third.

On an odd-man rush, Frattin buried his wrister into the back of the net from the slot.

Stafford snapped home a rebound with 2:45 left to make it 4-3, but Scrivens stood tall in net the rest of the way to preserve the win for Toronto.

After the Sabres turned the puck over while on the power play, Crabb skated in alone on the breakaway and snapped his shot past Miller for a 1-0 Toronto lead midway through the opening frame.

Following Ennis' wrister, which tied the contest at one halfway through the middle period, Toronto tallied the next two.

The first tally came on the power play as Kessel's well-placed wrister from the left circle sailed past the glove of Miller.

The second goal came with 0.7 seconds remaining in the stanza. The Leafs moved in on an odd-man rush before Clarke MacArthur snapped a wrister on net from the slot. Liles pounced on loose disc and put home the rebound.

Game Notes

Buffalo is 14-3-4 over its last 21 games...Buffalo was 0-for-3 on the power play while Toronto finished 1-of-2 on the man advantage.






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