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Sabres host Maple Leafs in Northeast Division battle

Jan 11, 2007 - 2:59 PM Toronto (19-19-6) at Buffalo (31-9-3) 7:00 pm EST

BUFFALO, New York (Ticker) -- While the Buffalo Sabres have dominated the rest of the NHL throughout the season, they have struggled at times against teams from their own division.

The Sabres shoot for their third straight victory and aim to improve their mark against divisional foes Thursday when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs in a Northeast Division battle.

Buffalo boasts the top record in the Eastern Conference and is tied with Anaheim (29-9-7) for the league lead with 65 points. But the Sabres are just 8-6-1 against Northeast clubs and have dropped seven of their last 10 games against division opponents.

Buffalo actually held on for a win against a division rival in Saturday's 4-3 victory at Toronto and followed it up with a 2-1 triumph at Chicago on Wednesday.

Maxim Afinogenov netted his 20th goal and Ryan Miller made 34 saves for the Sabres.

Since scoring a whopping 15 goals in sweeping a home-and-home series from the Boston Bruins last week, the Maple LEafs have dropped two straight contests.

Toronto's latest loss was a 4-1 home defeat to the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.

Defenseman Bryan McCabe scored the lone goal for the Leafs, who were without injured leading goal-scorer Darcy Tucker for the fourth straight contest.