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Sabres vs. Leafs recap: Lehner gets shutout in 4-0 blowout of Toronto

Robin Lehner sometimes looks like a fish flopping around on the ice, but that doesn’t mean he can’t stop the puck. He blocked all the shots headed his way against Toronto, backstopping the Sabres in a 4-0 dismantling of the Maple Leafs.

The offense continued to run on all cylinders, and the Sabres outshot Toronto 32 to 26 (it’s amazing watching a team that can actually keep the puck for periods of time). Jack Eichel scored another shorthanded goal, showing off his tremendous stride on the breakaway attempt. His former BU teammate Evan Rodrigues also impressed, notching a pair of goals. Matt Moulson rounded out the scoring with a nice deflection.

Eichel had an excellent game, continuing to not look like the rookie that he is. He is poised and intelligent, consistently making crisp passes and is dynamite in transition. He blew past Connor Brown to score his shorthanded goal tonight. Bylsma tried him a bit on the point of the powerplay in addition to his normal role as well.

Rodrigues has emerged as a candidate to be an early call-up for the Sabres this season. He should be a valuable asset to the Americans this season.

Cody Franson looked very sound for the Sabres tonight. With the injuries to Zach Bogosian and Josh Gorges, he’ll need to be for the Sabres to have success out of the gate.

Brendan Guhle took a pretty nasty hit from Dion Phaneuf late in the game. Whether it was legal or not is really up in the air. Phaneuf leaves his feet slightly, but the head isn’t the targeted area. None-the-less, it’s a good learning experience for the young defenseman. Nick Deslauriers went to challenge him to a fight, but the Leafs captain wasn’t all that interested.

Lehner made 26 saves, getting the full start for the first time this preseason.

It was an impressive showing for the Sabres, who were playing a rather veteran heavy Toronto lineup. At the end of the day it is still preseason, but Buffalo is showing a ton of positives in the past few games.

Highlights