TORONTO, ON — Rasmus Dahlin and Rasmus Asplund each had a goal and an assist, helping the Buffalo Sabres beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 on Tuesday night.
Tage Thompson, Kyle Okposo, and Jeff Skinner also scored for Buffalo (27-37-11). Alex Tuch and Victor Olofsson added two assists apiece.
Craig Anderson made 23 saves as the Sabres won the season series 3-1-0 and became the only team to defeat the Leafs three times in 2021-22.
Timothy Liljegren and Alexander Kerfoot scored for Toronto (47-20-6). Morgan Rielly had two assists to give him a career-high 53 on the year. Erik Kallgren stopped 23 shots.
Sabres defenseman Owen Power — the No. 1 pick at the 2021 draft — made his NHL debut after signing an entry-level contract last week. The 6-foot-6 Power spent two seasons at Michigan before turning pro following his school’s defeat in the NCAA’s Frozen Four tournament.
Toronto star Auston Matthews lost a 16-game point streak, and Mitch Marner’s run was halted at 13 contests.
The 24-year-old Matthews leads the NHL with 58 goals. He is trying for the league’s first 60-goal campaign since Steven Stamkos in 2011-12, and the first player to reach 65 since Alex Ovechkin in 2007-08.
Buffalo beat Toronto in the teams’ two previous meetings, including a 5-2 victory at the Heritage Classic in Hamilton on March 13 — an encounter that saw Matthews subsequently suspended two games for a cross-check to the neck of Dahlin.
Power’s welcome-to-the-NHL moment came quick — he started for Buffalo against Toronto’s top line featuring Matthews and Marner.
The 19-year-old got through that shift unscathed and then broke up a 2-on-1 later in the period with the teams playing 4 on 4 when Mark Giordano tried to find Matthews off the rush.
Okposo opened the scoring on a Buffalo power play at 7:25 of the first period when he took a pass from Olofsson and beat Kallgren upstairs for his 19th.
The Leafs made it 1-1 at 2:09 of the second when Liljegren pinched down to bank William Nylander’s end-boards rebound in off Anderson’s pad for his fourth.
Matthews was denied again by Anderson with the blocker moments later — he appeared to have some words with the veteran goaltender once play was whistled down — before Buffalo retook the lead on another man advantage.
Tuch made a nice move in the neutral zone to set up Thompson, who kicked the puck from his skate to his stick and fired past Kallgren for his team-leading 33rd at 9:11.
Robbed by Kallgren’s glove in the first, Skinner scored 4:09 into the third to make it 3-1 off a pass from Tuch.
Dahlin then pushed the lead to 4-1 just 1:34 later. Olofsson sold shot and found a wide-open Dahlin to bury his 10th with Kallgren out of position.
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Kerfoot got one back for the Leafs at 8:50 when he delayed in front of Anderson before firing a shot that just dribbled over the line for his 13th.
