The lift the Toronto Maple Leafs so badly needed came from the American Hockey League. Ben Scrivens had nothing to do with a franchise-worst home losing streak that doomed the team's season, but had a big hand in ending it by making 29 saves in a 4-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.
TORONTO - The shot of life the Toronto Maple Leafs so badly needed came from the American Hockey League.
TORONTO - It's been a tale of two seasons for Tyler Ennis.
Joey Crabb had a goal and an assist, Ben Scrivens made 29 saves and the Toronto Maple Leafs ended a team-record 11-game home losing streak with a 4-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.
Phil Kessel, John-Michael Liles and Matt Frattin also scored, and Clarke MacArthur added two assists.
Scrivens won a night after making 33 saves in the Toronto Marlies' 5-4 overtime victory over Rochester in the American Hockey League.
Tyler Ennis, Ville Leino and Drew Stafford scored for Buffalo. The Sabres are trying to chase down Washington for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Sabres fell flat in their most important game of the season. Playing for the second time in two nights, they weren't able to impose themselves on the fragile Leafs and couldn't convert on three power-play opportunities.
Crabb's short-handed goal set the tone, with the Toronto forward stealing the puck from Andrej Sekera at the blue line and beating Ryan Miller for a breakaway goal at 9:32 of the first period.
That was an important 1-0 lead, especially with Scrivens making just his ninth NHL appearance. During a callup earlier in the season, the 25-year-old struggled in particular during home starts - losing all three he made. He looked much more confident on this night and wasn't shy about coming out to challenge shooters.
There was little he could do on the play that saw the Sabres tie it at 1. Drew Stafford made a good play to drive around a defenseman and find Ennis, who roofed the shot at 10:59 of the second period.
But Kessel restored Toronto's lead less than 5 minutes later by ripping a shot past Miller for his career-best 37th goal of the season.
Liles made it 3-1 with a backbreaking goal that came with 0.7 seconds to play in the period. He drove hard to the net and knocked in MacArthur's rebound - a play that required video review.
That set up the most important period of the season for the Sabres, who briefly got some life after Leino shook off two defenders and beat Scrivens with a backhander at 6:48. Frattin's seventh of the season at 10:20 gave Toronto the insurance it would need when Stafford got his 20th at 17:15.
Notes: Tyler Myers sat out for the Sabres because of a foot injury ... Toronto scratched Cody Franson ... Buffalo called up defensemen Brayden McNabb and T.J. Brennan from the AHL and inserted them into the lineup.
Buffalo Sabres defenseman Tyler Myers won't suit up against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday because of a foot injury.Myers took a shot off his foot in a 5-3 loss Friday to Pittsburgh and is considered day-to-day.The Sabres are in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, tied in points with the Washington Capitals, who have more non-shootout victories.
If it wasn't apparent by the fact that the majority of stories coming out of Toronto these days are about the latest angry chants the ACC crowd has come up with, the bottom has fallen out on the Toronto Maple … Continue reading ?
If it wasn't apparent by the fact that the majority of stories coming out of Toronto these days are about the latest angry chants the ACC crowd has come up with, the bottom has fallen out on the Toronto Maple Leafs' season. They're bad.
But why? How did this happen? Whose fault is it? Lance Brown wants answers, dammit , and he's gonna get them. Check out the most epic piece of investigative journalism you'll see today:
I know this isn't intended to be comedy, but I find it downright hilarious. The pointed questions, which never really rise above Why aren't you better? and Why does losing keep happening?, the deflated bemusement of everyone under siege by Brown's quest for The Truth, the fact that the other microphones in the scrum seem kind of embarrassed by the CTV microphone... it's all gold. Here are a few highlights:
• "There's nothing funny about what happened this year." *looks around* " Nothing ."
• "It's become fashion to lose; it's become sickening to watch."
• After a recorded message announcing the Leafs' practice time over shots of an empty rink: "It shouldn't surprise anyone that they didn't show up at the announced time this morning... they haven't shown up for the better part of the last 24 games. "
• To Dion Phaneuf, moments after a lead-in pointedly denigrating his captaincy: "Have you provided the kind of leadership the captain of this franchise needs at a time like this?" And Phaneuf, realizing his answer is pretty much inconsequential: "What do you think?"
• To Randy Carlyle: "Did you know it would be this bad when you took the job?"
• To Phil Kessel: "Do you have an explanation for your own troubles lately?" Followed by a cut-away to the next guy Brown was hoping to shame before Kessel could even answer.
And so on. Seriously, at times this report felt like something that should have ended up on a late-night show. I kept waiting for Brown to follow up a question with for me to poop on! or some such other catchphrase, or one of the Leafs' answers to be cut up like Homer Simpson on Rock Bottom .
Follow Harrison Mooney on Twitter at @HarrisonMooney
TORONTO - The Toronto Maple Leafs recalled goalie Ben Scrivens from the AHL Marlies ahead of Saturday's game against the Buffalo Sabres.
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News reports are often pretty stale and bland. Sports reports are usually worse, using the same cliches and optimistic attitude even in the most dismal of situations. If your team is bad, or even extremely bad, you'll rarely hear a news report even hint at that fact, instead saying such seasons are unfortunate and not for a lack of effort.
CTV took things a bit differently and it couldn't be more refreshing. They asked the tough questions to Toronto players and coaches that most reporters wouldn't dare ask for fear that team management and players within the organization might take offense. CTV pressured the Toronto Maple Leafs and asked questions that all Maple Leafs fans have been asking for quite some time - why are you guys so terrible?
In a perfect world, all sports reports would sound like the one above. The news should ask for accountability from the teams they cover instead of continuously letting them off the hook or giving t...
There's been plenty of debate in the past week over which Canadian team -- the Montreal Canadiens or the Toronto Maple Leafs -- has embarrassed its fans the most this season with abysmal play and management. But hark! Did someone … Continue reading ?