GDT: Toronto Maple Leaves @ Buffalo Sabres 24 Oct 2025 7:00 pm ET TV: ESPN+, Hulu, SN1, TVAS, Radio: WGR 550

[SABRES 0311]

Just get to .500 and then go 2-1 in the final three games. If that happens I’d be happy. I’d even be ok with 5-5-1 for October considering injuries.

[...]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

It doesn't work bc there's no universe... none of 1 trillion simulations... where a Maple Leaf message board has Maple Leafs @ Sabores.

But, the word "Sabres" is a pejorative on its own - they don't need to mess around with fancy satirical misspellings.

[Doohickie]

32 minutes ago, Mustache of God said:

Hypothetically, what if you wagered Tuch to score a goal that night on one of sports betting apps, or Doan?  Would they reverse the lost bet if you bet on Tuch or take away your winnings if you bet on Doan?

Hypothetically, why is sports betting even legal?

[steveoath]

Toronto sucks. 
 

Go sabres. 
 

[PASabreFan]

1 hour ago, Doohickie said:

Out at the end of last game.  There's a whole thread about it.  Try to keep up.

 

You have to miss a game to be considered back. That's the law.

[Doohickie]

1 minute ago, PASabreFan said:

You have to miss a game to be considered back. That's the law.

[PASabreFan]

30 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

That's not usually where you put your hands.

Just give up now.

If you never left the lineup, you can't return to it.

[LGR4GM]

 

 

The Leafs defense is... bad. 

[Mustache of God]

37 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Hypothetically, why is sports betting even legal?

So they could sponsor every segment of the broadcasts? Those sponsorships don't pay for themselves.

[PASabreFan]

All Doohickying aside, this feels like as much of a lock as the Fla. game. I would bet on it but don't want to even start down that path.

[DarthEbriate]

Two wins today and tomorrow and the Leafs are on the brink of "make-a-big-trade"/"is-the-coach-to-blame" mode. They're down. Start raking them. Upend the entire Atlantic.

[PASabreFan]

4 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

Two wins today and tomorrow and the Leafs are on the brink of "make-a-big-trade"/"is-the-coach-to-blame" mode. They're down. Start raking them. Upend the entire Atlantic.

So four wins?

You people are killing me.

[Wyldnwoody44]

19 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

That's not usually where you put your hands.

Just give up now.

If you never left the lineup, you can't return to it.

I mean... 

It's where you put your hands if you are secretly hoping for a fall, followed by a hip fracture and then months of rehab... So the family can celebrate holidays without pepaw.. 

Hypothetically. 

Not that I've ever seen anything remotely happen like that.... 

[Wyldnwoody44]

1 hour ago, Mustache of God said:

 

Hypothetically, what if you wagered Tuch to score a goal that night on one of sports betting apps, or Doan?  Would they reverse the lost bet if you bet on Tuch or take away your winnings if you bet on Doan?

I looked this up and per the app that I use sparingly... After the game there is a verification process that doesn't take too long along with 3rd party blah blah blah, once that occurs and the bet moves to "completed" that is essentially it irregardless of league reviews and changes later. 

They have right to make changes if there was a "technical error or bug which they state is rare. But otherwise it's locked in. 

[DarthEbriate]

10 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

So four wins?

You people are killing me.

Speed up the harvest or teleport us off this rock out of the basement. Play doubleheaders.

[LETSTUCHINGO]

22 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

All Doohickying aside, this feels like as much of a lock as the Fla. game. I would bet on it but don't want to even start down that path.

We just lost!

[Sabres73]

2 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

NHL gave Doan's goal Wednesday to Tuch 2 days after the game. That's really weird

They weren't aware I have Tuch in my pool and not Doan, so they rectified it.

[BlowLeafsBlow123]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

 

 

The Leafs defense is... bad. 

While I agree that their defense looks bad on paper, a few reasons I'm worried this weekend for us (if you hate basic stats, don't read):

-Our forward group seems to struggle in these "must have" games where we have a chance to put some pressure on another team that is down bad. We really need more from Tage, Dahlin and Tuch tonight, no ifs, ands or buts about it. In years past, literally every time they got within breathing distance of a playoff spot they'd fall flat on their face. Tage is public enemy number one for me in this regard (Tage only has 13 points in 19 career games against TO and is -4). He really seems to lack the clutch gene and kinda stinks against good teams. Would you believe that he has only 1 Power Play point, an assist in the last 10 games against them. It's something that has always worried me about having him at the top of our lineup, just doesn't match up well against a lot of teams with good centerman. One more stat, Tage has 20 career game-winning goals, while Matthews has 65 for reference. I know that doesn't paint the whole picture but for how many goals he's scored it's a bit surprising/disappointing to see more.

-Toronto's forward lines still look pretty good. They cannot take them lightly by any means. Matthew/Nylander and Knies/Tavares are good combos. Don't forget Domi loves to score against Buffalo. Per a Google AI search, Max Domi has 11 goals and 15 assists for 26 points and a +8 in 27 regular-season games against the Buffalo Sabres. That's frankly insane considering his career numbers of 0.61 Pts/Game but not surprising as he's an absolute Sabre killer. While it's never felt like Matthews killed us to me, he has 21G/33P in 29 Games against us, but is likely in line with what he does to other teams. The goal scoring numbers are pretty eye-popping still. Meanwhile Tavares (28G/56P in 48GP) and Nylander (10G/18P in 33GP) have had good success, with Tavares in borderline Sabre killer territory there.

Why I think we can and should walk away with 3 out of 4 points:

-This is the weakest Leafs team we've faced in 5+ years. Losing Marner is huge as he was often the straw that stirred the drank (8G/35P in 28GP against us). They don't have a competent replacement for him so don't let someone be that guy tonight. With their defense banged up (Tanev and Reilly out), we need to play a hard game and utilize the "dawgs". I think our newly formed PP1 can do some damage here, especially with Tanev out.

-Speaking of the Dawgs, I like Benson and Doan to have good games again tonight. Toronto is the type of team where they can shine. I like Benson to get his first goal both of the season and against Toronto tonight (he's got 0G/6A in 4GP). Josh Doan has never played the Leafs, so he can start his reign of terror tonight. 

-Defense - I think our defense can be up to the challenge tonight. Dahlin seems to get up for the Leafs (14P/-6 in 19GP) and Power is from Ontario (6P/+11 in 10GP). Hoping Timmins has a bit of a revenge game in him haha. 

-Goaltending - Lyon is 1-1-1 against them but has really strong numbers of 2.06GAA/.927 SV %, which are in line with his overall play this year. I expect he's the starter tonight.

We need to get back to taking care of business against the Leafs. We're very back and forth with them, which I suppose is good considering how much better they've been in the standings. Now it's time to take it to them and jump them in the standings. Sorry for the long post, was enjoying checking out the stats and very interested to see if our top players can step it up. They've got to be feeling the need to produce and need to find a way to break through the stick gripping and lack of confidence (freakin Tage, get it together brah).

[DarthEbriate]

12 minutes ago, BlowLeafsBlow123 said:

One more stat, Tage has 20 career game-winning goals, while Matthews has 65 for reference. I know that doesn't paint the whole picture but for how many goals he's scored it's a bit surprising/disappointing to see more.

Matthews has played in 181 more games than Thompson has --- and more importantly, Toronto has won 137 more games in Auston's career than the Blues/Sabres have in TNT's career. His team wins more, he's a prolific goal scorer, Matthews should have a bunch more GWG.

[K-9]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

That's not usually where you put your hands.

Just give up now.

If you never left the lineup, you can't return to it.

I get the broader point but within that, Zucker did leave the bench and tonight he returns to the bench. Does that count?