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Roy's natural hat trick fuels Sabres past Maple Leafs

Sep 27, 2007 - 2:53 AM By Jeff Lieberman PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

TORONTO (Ticker) -- Derek Roy recorded a natural hat trick and added three assists as the Buffalo Sabres cruised to a 7-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs in a preseason game on Wednesday.

Roy scored his first goal with three minutes remaining in the second period, accepting a cross-ice feed from Drew Stafford and wristing a shot past goaltender Vesa Toskala for a power-play goal.

Roy tallied 1:46 into the third period before completing his memorable night on a shorthanded breakaway five minutes later.

Not a bad effort from Roy, who signed a six-year, $24 million dollar contract in late July to avoid arbitration. He had 21 goals last season.

When he wasn't scoring, Roy was helping others find their scoring touch.

He assisted on first-period goals by defenseman Henrik Tallinder and Stafford and set up Thomas Vanek early in the second as the Sabres built a 4-0 lead.

Vanek added three assists and Ryan Miller made 20 saves en route to his second win of the preseason for the Sabres.

Toronto halved their 4-0 deficit in the second. Defenseman Pavel Kubina scored a shorthanded goal at 3:45, and Chad Kilger netted his team-leading third tally of the preseason just over nine minutes later.

The night started off poorly for Toskala, who allowed the first shot to beat him just 84 seconds into the contest. The 30-year-old Finn, who was acquired from San Jose over the summer, surrendered all seven goals on 36 shots.