"There was some potential to consider Oliver Ekman-Larsson a success story tonight. He had two points, including a beautiful lob pass to set up William Nylander for his breakaway goal. A lot of that was undone by his meatball of a pass that was intercepted late in the third allowing Alex Tuch to score shorthanded and twist the dagger in the Leafs for the Sabres fifth goal."
"What did mean a lot is how much Jake McCabe elevated his game in a futile effort. He was easily the best player on the ice and when the Leafs had to endure 1:58 minutes of 5-on-3 hockey, he managed to hold the Sabres shotless by laying down four blocked shots on the penalty kill. He'd finish the night with six total blocks, five came in the first period."
"Philippe Myers looked unplayable and given that he's sat for three weeks that is to be expected. Somehow Dakota Mermis looked worse and Brad Treliving should be getting to work on finding a replacement, either recalling Henry Thrun, Matt Benning, or William Villeneuve for a look. There wasn't much consistency in the defensive pairings but that was largely born of necessity as Craig Berube quickly realized that Mermis and Myers couldn't be on the ice together, even against the lowly Sabres."
Toronto lost 5-3 in Buffalo to the Sabres. Chris Tanev and Morgan Rielly were out of the lineup, leaving unstable defensive pairings that were frequently changed. Oliver Ekman-Larsson recorded two points, including a lob pass enabling William Nylander's breakaway, but later made an intercepted pass that led to a shorthanded Sabres goal. Brandon Carlo played reasonably but did not significantly elevate his game. Jake McCabe stood out with six blocked shots and a key penalty-kill performance. Depth defenders Philippe Myers and Dakota Mermis struggled, prompting suggestions to recall replacement options.
Read at TheLeafsNation
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