Sabres 5, Maple Leafs 4
Thomas Vanek scored a pair of goals and Drew Stafford added a goal and an assist as the Buffalo Sabres outlasted the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 on Friday.
Tyler Ennis chipped in a goal and an assist and Ryan Miller made 29 saves for the Sabres, who snapped a two-game slide.
Most of the action took place during a six-goal second period that included seven penalties, capped by Dion Phaneuf’s boarding and game-misconduct calls.
The Maple Leafs took a 2-1 lead on Phaneuf’s tally on a power-play slap shot from the point at the 9:03 mark of the second. But the Sabres responded just 19 seconds later, when Zack Kassian stole the puck in the Toronto zone and found Vanek, who wristed in his 15th goal.
Buffalo took the lead during a 5-on-3 chance with 5:52 left in the second. Ennis’ one-timer from the right faceoff circle beat James Reimer before the Sabres opened it up on another power-play just under four minutes later, when Andrej Sekera beat Reimer short side from a bad angle to make it 4-2.
Toronto got one back on a penalty shot by Nikolai Kulemin early in the third before Vanek made it a two-goal edge again with a breakaway tally.