Matthews’ debut expected Sunday

BUFFALO— With Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock watching from the pressbox, his team put on an offensive show.

Matt Hunwick and Peter Holland had two goals apiece in Toronto’s first win of the pre-season, an 8-1 thrashing of the Buffalo Sabres.

Jake Gardiner, Kasperi Kapanen, William Nylander and Rich Clune also scored. Clune picked up a fighting major as well, but finished an assist short of a Gordie Howe hat trick. Mitch Marner picked up an assist in his second game of the pre-season.

After an off-day, Babcock will be behind the bench Sunday night for the Leafs’ only pre-season game at the Air Canada Centre, against the Montreal Canadiens. He hinted fans would see Marner and top draft Auston Matthews play in the same game for the first time.

“We’re going to see them a lot,” said Babcock. “Matthews played six games already (for North America at the World Cup). We’ll get them going a fair bit now.”

Babcock said he’s curious to see how they handle the spotlight.

“What I would say (to young stars) is, ‘You’re an athlete and you’re in a city where they love (hockey). You’re going to get lots of notoriety.’ I don’t think that’s a negative thing. That’s a positive thing, because people care about the game.

Babcock repeated what he said after winning the World Cup with Team Canada: that the Leafs are on track to bring a trophy of their own to Toronto.

“It’s an exciting time to be a Leaf, to be in the organization,” said Babcock. “We’re in a much better situation than we were this time last year. Onward and upward. I really believe we’re going to be able to relive that experience that we had with our national team with Toronto. We just have to keep building our program here, be patient, go in the right direction.”

Babcock was welcomed back by assistant coaches Jim Hiller and D.J. Smith, who handled training camp in his absence. Kevin McGran