Top Notes
- The Sabres improved to 11-1-1 in their last 13 home games against the Maple Leafs.
- The Sabres rallied from a two-goal deficit to win for the third time this season. The other two were 1/31 at BOS and 2/7 vs. MTL.
- Christian Ehrhoff tied his career high with his fifth career three-point game (1+2). The Sabres are 8-1-0 since acquiring Ehrhoff when he records two or more points.
- Tyler Ennis also had a multi-point game (1+1). The Sabres are 23-4-2 in his career when Ennis tallies at least two points.
- Ennis had a TOI of 24:12, nearly two minutes more than his previous career high, set on April 3, 2012 vs. TOR (22:23). Like tonight, Ennis recorded a goal and an assist in that game.
- Steve Ott’s TOI of 23:26 was the third-highest of his career (Oct. 10, 2011: 24:17 and March 8, 2009: 24:15).
- With his goal, Marcus Foligno maintained his point-per-game pace against the Maple Leafs (1+5 in six games).
Top Quotes
Toronto goaltender James Reimer:
On the Maple Leafs’ overall team play: “I thought we battled hard and I thought we worked really hard and we probably deserved a better fate.”
On playing against the Sabres: “They’re a desperate team, and with the shortened season, being a couple points back, I’m sure they’re playing a little bit more desperate hockey right now. So you give them credit for how hard they played and how hard they worked, but I think kudos to them, but I mean, like I said, us playing two games in two nights, I thought we worked really hard and we matched their work ethic and that’s impressive.”
On the team’s defensive play: “When you score four you should win, and at least we got a point which is important. …We’re working on it and obviously it’s on us goaltenders and on as a team defensively.”
Toronto forward Tyler Bozak:
On Ryan Miller’s play: “When he’s on, he’s on. He’s one of the best goalies in the league when he’s on his game, and he seems to play good against us a lot of the time. They played hard tonight it was a good hockey game, and I mean we’re happy to get a point. Whenever it gets to a shootout it’s, you know, you can’t get too high when you win them, you can’t get too low when you lose them so I mean we’re happy to get one point here.”
On the Maple Leafs’ chemistry on offense: “We got pretty short there tonight; we lost a few guys, but I think with the three lines we had, everyone is contributing, gaining chemistry within each other and I think it’s working well for us.”
On how to improve in the shootouts: “Just I guess practice like everything else. We do breakaways every practice pretty much, I mean at the end of practice we mess around a do breakaways on the goalies.”
Sabres forward Patrick Kaleta:
On how the crowd affects the players: “It’s great to play when it’s real loud. You know you feed off of it and I don’t think sometimes the crowd understands how much we feed of them and they were awesome tonight and really kept the energy up for us.”
On rebounding from an early deficit: “Credit to us for sticking with our game plan. We know that we have a bit of a hill to climb, but why can’t we be the team? We’re coming together here and playing as a team and I think we’re reaping the benefits of it.”
Sabres forward Marcus Foligno:
On going to the net: “Yeah, yeah, I would honestly like to have the first one (breakaway attempt) back but it was just something you’ve got to get around the net. I think all my goals are coming from the paint, so it’s just something in this league that puck have to do. They have to get into the net.”
On how it feels to play in a tight game: “It was exciting on the bench and everyone was up and was just fun hockey and now we are kind of in the playoff battle, really. We really need points and we need points quick to make the playoffs. Every game is intense and against Toronto. Obviously, their fans come here and it’s pretty loud for them. But we got our fans out later and we really picked up our tempo.”
On getting on a winning streak: “Yeah, they were big games, too, against Montreal and Toronto. They’re both big clubs and skilled clubs. I think it’s something we have accomplished and is just huge for our team.”
Sabres defenseman Christian Ehrhoff:
On a regulation win versus a shootout win: “Yeah definitely, you know it would be nice if we can get some regulation wins because we basically we are trying to catch those teams but you know we are pretty happy with the shootout win and, like you said, it was a good game to watch for the fans too.”
On trying early in the third to get a quick goal: “Obviously, you know, we tried to get it to go in on the power play and tried to score. We had some good shots and good looks tonight and I got an open lane there so that was definitely a good start to the period.”
On the two-goal deficit and comeback: “It didn’t really seem to affect us negatively and to be down we just kept going and stuck to our game plan.
