Eichel scores twice as Sabres stop Maple Leafs
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Jack Eichel had two goals and an assist to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 5-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
Ryan O'Reilly, Evander Kane and Dmitry Kulikov also scored for Buffalo (31-32-12). Robin Lehner made 32 saves.
Connor Brown and Auston Matthews scored for the Maple Leafs (35-24-15), who had a three-game win streak end.
Curtis McElhinney made 19 saves for Toronto after replacing Frederik Andersen in net. Andersen did not return to start the second period after suffering an upper-body injury. He made 14 saves in the first period.
O'Reilly opened the scoring 7:05 into the game following a fine feed by Tyler Ennis. Ennis spun in the offensive zone before firing a cross-ice pass to O'Reilly, who tapped the puck in for his 18th goal of the season.
Brown made it 1-1 at 9:30, burying a rebound after Leo Komarov's initial shot was stopped.
Kane quickly restored Buffalo's lead 15 seconds later on a rebound opportunity of his own. It was his 26th goal of the season.
The offense continued at a breakneck pace in the second period with the Sabres taking over. Matthews evened the score 2:22 into the second on a rebound from short range but once again the Sabres quickly answered.
Eichel picked up his first goal of the evening on a blast from the left circle 25 seconds later.
Kulikov made it 4-2 at 5:59 of the second with his second goal of the season. On the power play, Kulikov fired a hard shot from the point into the top corner of the net to give Buffalo a two-goal lead.
Eichel's second goal made it 5-2 with 6:48 remaining in the second. Eichel's shot through traffic from the right circle found room on the short side for his 23rd goal of the season.
NOTES: D Rasmus Ristolainen, D Cody Franson, D Taylor Fedun and LW Nicolas Deslauriers were scratched for the Sabres. Ristolainen served the first contest of a three-game suspension following his illegal hit to the head on Pittsburgh's Jake Guentzel in the first period of Tuesday's loss to the Penguins. Guentzel suffered a concussion on the play. ... C Eric Fehr, RW Nikita Soshnikov, LW Josh Leivo, D Roman Polak and D Martin Marincin were scratched for the Maple Leafs. ... This was the fourth of five meetings this season. The final encounter is April 3 in Buffalo.