Buffalo Sabres @ Toronto Maple Leafs
07:00 PM at Scotiabank Arena
Watch on: TSN4, MSG-B

The Leafs last game was away on October 13 against the Utah Mammoth, which Toronto lost by a score of 5-4 in regulation. The Leafs have a record of 3-3-1 for a 0.500 Points %.

The Buffalo Sabres last played away on October 13 against the Montréal Canadiens. The Sabres lost by a score of 4-3 in a shootout, and their current league record is 3-3-1 for a 0.500 Points %.

Them

I was a little surprised to see standings talk the other day because I think it's a titch early to be talking about winning or losing ground vs division opponents. But maybe the Sabres, with an identical record to the Leafs, might be wondering what happened to last year's win%.

Shooting percentage isn't a repeatable skill, that's what. Oh, and they don't have the top team Save % in the league; they are near the bottom. That other thing you can't count on repeating hasn't been so far.

At five-on-five, the team has been a little bit more than their very average selves of last year, so that's one bright spot for them.

Lines

Morning Skate

Peyton Krebs - Tage Thompson - Josh Doan
Zach Benson - Noah Ostlund - Jack Quinn
Jiri Kulich - Ryan McLeod - Konsta Helenius
Justin Danforth - Josh Norris - Beck Malenstyn

Mattias Samuelsson - Olen Zellweger
Owen Power - Zach Metsa
Dennis Gilbert - Louis Crevier

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen - starter
Colten Ellis

Us

The team announced today that Chris Tanev is officially out week-to-week, which is what it is.

They also tried some changed up lines in a short morning skate:

'I Didn't Like Our Game': Why The Maple Leafs Are Shuffling Their Lines Ahead Of Matchup Against Sabres
The Leafs are set to start with Auston Matthews and William Nylander playing together while the second and third lines have been completely overhauled.
The Hockey NewsDavid Alter

Those changes are listed below. No decision yet on whether they will do 11-7 or not.

Lines

Projected Lines and subject to change

William Nylander - Auston Matthews - Jack Roslovic
John Tavares - Nick Paul - Kirill Marchenko
Gavin McKenna - Colton Sissons - Easton Cowan
Brandon Duhaime - Teddy Blueger - Zack MacEwen

Jake McCabe - Darren Raddysh
Morgan Rielly - Troy Stecher
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Nick Blankenburg

Sergei Bobrovsky
Anthony Stolarz

The Game

I don't think the Leafs right now are a brand new, totally different entity then past teams. The year before last, and in Keefe's final year as coach, there was a consistency problem. A difficulty in playing a solid three periods. We invented the meme about five minutes of awesomeness for a reason.

Jim Hiller can't get more players. He can't make the ones he has better. But this area of play is something that can improve. And that seems very possible now, unlike in the more recent past.

I look at the horrible PK, which has gotten better. Then there's the horrible PP1 that just needed some time for the players to figure themselves out. It's a work in progress, and I noticed that the key forwards are not really doing things to utilize Darren Raddysh's shot yet. They'll get there.

Tonight's a good time to start on the solid three periods, though.

Game Coverage