AP

‘“We talked about it in between periods and this morning and we wanted to get a win for him,” Okposo said. “We know how much it meant to him. Things didn’t end well for him here and he won’t say it, but I know that this game meant a lot to him.”’

‘“I just felt like we shot ourselves in the foot a few times,” Eichel said. “We kept battling through the adversity.”’

‘“We really came out strong in the first and it got away from us a little bit in the second,” Reinhart said. “We got away from our game plan a little bit. I think our forwards didn’t do a good enough job of recognizing when we were turning pucks over in the offensive zone and our gaps weren’t as good as a result, which gave them more time and space.”’

‘“The last six games before this really had been games of good habits, and a lot of the offense that we were starting to create hadn’t really functioned that well with goals,” Krueger said. “I thought we had a deserved first period, kind of like the fruit of the labor from the week before almost seemed to pay off. We were hot.”’

‘“I thought the guys put that away really well and really deserved more than a point here when I look at the third period,” Sabres head coach Ralph Krueger said. “So really proud of the effort of the guys just digging it really deep and extremely disappointed with the final result.”’

‘“We hadn’t beat them in a while so it’s good to get the two points and I think we needed it as a group as well,” Eichel said. “It’s two cities that are pretty close to each other and the Leafs have such a big following and a lot of people travel order the border to watch these games. We’d obviously like to see more Buffalo fans in the crowd but it’s a little extra motivation.”’

‘“We definitely had the chances to put it away after 2-1, and the inability to do that and then have a D-zone breakdown to allow them back into the game is really, really disappointing,” Krueger added. “It’s a painful situation that we have to manage and use in the right way.”’

‘With Dahlin’s addition, the Sabres have five regulars on the injured list as they prepare to host the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night.’

‘Dahlin was left bloodied and sustained a concussion.’

‘“Right now, we’re just worried about Rasmus and getting him healthy, and hoping it’s not a long-term injury,” Buffalo coach Ralph Krueger said. Krueger added that “it’s better for me not to judge” the hit right now.’