TORONTO, ON-(AP) - John Tavares scored his first two goals on home ice with the Maple Leafs and Toronto defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-3 in preseason 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.
Andrew Oglevie, C.J. Smith and Tage Thompson scored for the Sabres. Linus Ullmark made 27 saves in taking the loss.
The teams will play an exhibition rematch Saturday night in Buffalo.
Tavares made it 3-1 with his third of the preseason at 3:42, finishing off a sequence he started in the Toronto zone. The star center fed a stretch pass to Mitch Marner, who in turn dropped it back to Timothy Liljegren. The rookie defenseman blasted a one-timer, and Tavares was there to bury the rebound.
Tavares added an empty-netter with 43.2 seconds remaining.
