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White's goal helps Maple Leafs edge Sabres

Dec 13, 2008 - 4:37 AM BUFFALO, New York (Ticker) -- Defenseman Ian White snapped a tie with less than eight minutes remaining in the third period to lift the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 2-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday.

Jeremy Williams also scored and Vesa Toskala made 24 saves for the Maple Leafs, who have won consecutive contests for just the fourth time this season. Toronto has yet to post three straight victories on the campaign.

Blue-liner Toni Lydman netted his first goal of the season and Ryan Miller turned aside 31 shots for the Sabres, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.

"We had tons of opportunities," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. "We played a picture-perfect 40 minutes and should have been up 4- or 5-0. You let teams hang around, you're going to make a mistake of letting them get a goal, and you end up not winning a game."

The Maple Leafs pressured Miller all game, registering 11 shots in each period. But it might have been their least impressive attempt that made the difference.

White barely was able to keep the puck in the offensive zone before floating a wrist shot that bounced off the ice and handcuffed Miller, who was unable to make the seemingly easy save.

"It's my home rink. I should know better," Miller said. "Our ice is terrible toward the end of the game. It gets a little bouncy, a little rough. I have to get my body in the way. It was a pretty big bounce, but I still have to play it more conservatively."

"It's always surprising to see something like that go in," White said. "I was trying to keep the puck in at the blue line. I knocked it down and threw it on net. Sometimes good things happen."

It was White's fifth goal of the season.

"I wouldn't say I'm a go-to guy," said White, who has scored in consecutive games. "I give my best effort, and usually, good things happen."

Buffalo opened the scoring at 6:02 of the first period on a great play by Derek Roy, who skated into Toronto's zone and drew three defenders toward him. Roy then managed to find Lydman, who skated in alone and beat Toskala to snap a 31-game goalless drought.

"Coach has been talking about getting that fourth man on the attack," Lydman said. "Derek made a great play and I had all kinds of time."

Toskala did not allow another puck to get by him, making many impressive stops on the Sabres' transition offense.

"We still gave up a few chances," Toskala said. "We're moving in the right direction and improving as a team."

"Maybe it took a period and a half to realize what we have to do, and we did," Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson said. "We controlled the game from that point on. Even killing the penalties, we did a great job, and they didn't mount much of an attack."

Williams' second goal this season tied the contest at 1-1 with 2:21 left in the middle session.