FIRST IMPRESSIONS
John Tavares celebrates the first of two goals in Friday night’s 5-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres — the Leafs’ first pre-season game on home ice and thus the Mississauga star acquisition’s introduction to the Scotiabank Arena crowd.
John Tavares scored his first two goals on home ice with the Maple Leafs as Toronto defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-3 in pre-season play on Friday night.
Ron Hainsey, Pierre Engvall and Chris Mueller also scored for the Leafs. Curtis McElhinney stopped all 20 shots he faced after replacing Garret Sparks, who made nine saves, midway through the second period at the newly named Scotiabank Arena.
Andrew Oglevie, C.J. Smith and Tage Thompson replied for the Sabres. Linus Ullmark made 27 saves in taking the loss.
Oglevie opened the scoring half a minute into the first period when he slid a rebound past Sparks, but Hainsey’s shot through traffic tied it 18 seconds later. Engvall continued the chaotic start 23 seconds after that when he took a pass from Colin Greening and beat Ullmark for a third goal in the game’s first 1:11.
Tavares then made it 3-1 with his third of the pre-season at 3:42, finishing off a sequence he started in the Toronto zone. The star centre fed a stretch pass to Mitch Marner, who in turn dropped it back to Timothy Liljegren. The rookie defenceman blasted a one-timer at Ullmark, and Tavares was there to bury the rebound upstairs.
Tavares and Marner lost their regular winger early in the second when Zach Hyman left with a bone bruise after taking an innocent-looking shot by teammate Rasmus Sandin off the skate.