BUFFALO, N.Y. — Morgan Rielly scored with 12 seconds remaining, and the Toronto Maple Leafs overcame squandering a two-goal, third-period lead by pulling out a 5-4 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.
Joseph Woll stopped 23 shots in his NHL debut, and Toronto won for the eighth time in nine outings. John Tavares, Ondrej Kase, Michael Bunting and David Kampf also scored in a game the Maple Leafs never trailed.
Jeff Skinner scored twice and added an assist for Buffalo. The Sabres overcame a 4-2 deficit on goals by Skinner and Rasmus Dahlin 59 seconds apart midway through the third period.
PREGAME NOTES: The Sabres are 2-2-2 in conference games. Buffalo is 10th in the Eastern Conference recording 7.7 points per game, averaging 2.9 goals and 4.8 assists.
The Maple Leafs are 5-1-0 against the rest of their division. Toronto leads the NHL recording 34.7 shots per game while averaging 2.5 goals.
The teams meet Saturday for the first time this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Rasmus Asplund leads the Sabres with six assists and has 10 points this season. Victor Olofsson has four goals and two assists over the last 10 games for Buffalo.
Mitch Marner leads the Maple Leafs with 10 total assists and has 13 points this season. Auston Matthews has six goals and five assists over the last 10 games for Toronto.
LAST 10 GAMES: Sabres: 3-5-2, averaging 2.7 goals, 4.1 assists, 3.7 penalties and eight penalty minutes while giving up 3.2 goals per game with a .904 save percentage.
Maple Leafs: 7-3-0, averaging 2.7 goals, 4.8 assists, 3.3 penalties and 6.9 penalty minutes while allowing 2.4 goals per game with a .925 save percentage.
INJURIES: Sabres: Craig Anderson: day to day (upper body), Victor Olofsson: day to day (undisclosed), Casey Mittelstadt: out (upper body).
Maple Leafs: None listed.