Game Preview: Toronto Maple Leafs @ Buffalo Sabres

It was uncharacteristically depressing Wednesday as the Buffalo Sabres were almost exhausted by the Ottawa Senators leading to defeat. The announcement of several players competing through food poisoning made the lack of fighting spirit comprehensible. With Toronto up next, the Sabres are setting their sights on a return to the win column against the Maple Leafs.

Having already claimed two wins from the blue and white, Buffalo's luck against this Canadian squad contradicts what they receive with Ottawa. Pension Plan Puppets has interesting statistics at the start of their article to share. Ryan Miller, like he's done flawlessly, was the story in the first two matches as Toronto outshot them 73-59 combined. Mentioning how disappointed he became with the team's work two days ago, the Sabres will be determined to make up for it.

Five thoughts on both combatants below.

• Vesa Toskala was too deep in his net often on Wednesday and the Phoenix Coyotes jumped out to a 5-1 lead that Toronto couldn't recover from. The Finnish goaltender is 3-3 lifetime with Buffalo and hasn't won on the road yet this season. A 4.77 goals against average and .848 save percentage explain why that's the case.
  
• Tremendous news on the injury front because Paul Gaustad is all healed up and eager to get back into action. Face-offs, energy, a presence in front of the net, Goose's return makes the group much stronger. Patrick Kaleta could be out with a sore neck, Nathan Gerbe is questionable and Chris Butler will not participate.
  
• Toronto's powerplay is clicking at just above 20 per cent and Gaustad will help Buffalo's that is now 1 for 16 in three games. While the Sabres are seventh in penalty killing, their opponents are at the bottom behind 29 teams.
  
• Four points out of a playoff spot, Phil Kessel, Matt Stajan and Alexei Ponikarovsky have found chemistry as a unit providing the bulk of Toronto's offense in the last week or so. Each member has points in three consecutive contests.
  
• Jason Pominville whose 94 shots lead the team, has seven goals and is witnessing his total drop for the third straight season possibly after posting 34 in 2007. I've lost count of the amount of times he's fanned on a shot, broken his stick or missed the net.
  
• At 7-0-2 when scoring first, the Maple Leafs are a good bet to come out the superior side with that advantage but the problem is they've only been in that position nine times. They're 5-15-5 if they fall behind first and Buffalo is 15-2-2 when striking first. The first goal could be the deciding factor.
  
• Defenseman Tomas Kaberle's 31 points surpass all of Buffalo's forwards in production. Wow.
  
• I did some number crunching like I did for the Ottawa preview. The Sabres are 23-8-1 against Toronto since the lock-out, outscoring them 115-78.
  
• Thomas Vanek has 16 goals and 29 points in 30 tries with Toronto. With one goal in December, he must start finding the net more.
  
• Toronto is one of four Eastern Conference clubs to have hit triple digits in goal-scoring and are part of a seven-team group to have surrendered 100 goals or more.
  

Rest assured that the Maple Leafs will have strong support in HSBC Arena as they often do. A win for Toronto keeps them in the thick of the postseason scrum. A win for Buffalo extends their Northeast Division conquest. The Maple Leafs have scored massive upset victories already and this would add to that compilation.