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Buffalo Sabres vs Toronto Maple Leafs: Player Performance Ratings

Another smallish turnout in the polls, this time we had 83 voters grading the Buffalo Sabres after they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 on Thursday night.

Buffalo scored early and often, going up 3-0 early in the second period like they had against the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier in the week. However, apart from the whining, Nazem Kadri has very little in common with Sidney Crosby and couldn’t lead the Leafs to a comeback and this ended up a comprehensive win for the Sabres.

Cal O’Reilly and Johan Larsson both put in solid performances and scored braces, while Brooks Laich had the sole score for Toronto, spoiling Chad Johnson’s shutout bid.

Ryan O’Reilly 3.9
Jack Eichel 3.8
Sam Reinhart 3.5
Marcus Foligno 3.7
Johan Larsson 4.6
Brian Gionta 3.3
Nick Deslauriers 2.8
Zemgus Girgensons 3.0
Hudson Fasching 3.2
Cal O’Reilly 4.6
David Legwand 3.4
Matt Moulson 2.4
Josh Gorges 3.1
Rasmus Ristolainen 3.7
Jake McCabe 3.6
Zach Bogosian 3.7
Mark Pysysk 3.3
Casey Nelson 3.5
Chad Johnson 4.1

The Sabres’ top performers on the day were also the three stars of the day, with one difference – Larsson was just marginally ahead of O’Reilly in the DBTB voting.

#1 – Johan Larsson, rating 4.6

JFL is having an excellent few weeks to close out the season. He’s looked hungry and incisive, and has shown flashed of offensive prowess as well. He ended with two goals on five shots, with a +2 rating and 3 hits as well, in 17:29 of ice time.

#2 – Cal O’Reilly, rating 4.6

The man henceforth known as Bro’Reilly had himself quite the game, scoring twice on three shots, and was also +2. He saw plenty of time on the first power play unit too, for a total of 13:12 TOI. In Evander Kane’s absence, the secondary scoring boost was quite welcome.

#3 – Chad Johnson, rating 4.1

Johnson had a strong game, ensuring Buffalo’s dominance of Toronto at the First Niagara Center continued. The Sabres are now 17-1-1 in the last nineteen against the Leafs. He had 25 saves for a save pct of .962 and was generally comfortable throughout the game.

Image courtesy of Buffalo Sabres.

The Sabres play the New York Rangers tonight at the Madison Square Garden.