Maple Leafs at Sabres
THE STORY: The Toronto Maple Leafs will look for their fourth straight win on Tuesday when they host the opener of a home-and-home series with the Northeast Division rival Buffalo Sabres. The second game in the series is set for Friday. The Maple Leafs earned their third win in as many games with a 4-3 home victory Saturday over the Detroit Red Wings. Joffrey Lupul and Phil Kessel each had a goal and an assist to lead the offense, while captain Dion Phaneuf and David Steckel also scored. Jonas Gustavsson made 37 saves to improve to 12-7-0 on the season. For its part, Buffalo dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to the visiting Winnipeg Jets in its last game. Defenseman Tyler Myers scored his third goal of the season while Jhonas Enroth made 39 saves.
TV: 7 p.m. ET. MSG-B, SNET-O
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (21-15-5): Toronto is in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, but is bunched with a number of other teams within a few points fighting for the final playoff spots. The Maple Leafs continue to get offense out of Kessel (48) and Lupul (47), who are tied for second and fourth, respectively, in the NHL points race. Kessel is second in the NHL with 24 goals, while Lupul is poised to set a new career high for points. His previous best was 53 during the 2005-06 campaign with the Anaheim Ducks. Gustavsson has been sharing the net with James Reimer, who is 7-4-4 on the season.
ABOUT THE SABRES (18-18-5): After the series with Toronto, the Sabres play their remaining seven games this month on the road. Buffalo is 8-9-0 on the road through the first half of the season. The Sabres have had better luck getting points on home ice, where they have recorded at least a point in their last six. Enroth has been competing with Ryan Miller for playing time. Miller is off to a slow start, sporting a 10-11-2 record.
OVERTIME:
1. Buffalo D Marc-Andre Gragnani leads all rookies with a plus-12 rating, while Luke Adam is seventh in rookie scoring with 20 points.
2. Thomas Vanek and captain Jason Pominville have recorded a point on the same goal 30 times this season, second only to the Sedin twins (36) in Vancouver.