Thompson Feeds Samuelsson as Sabres Haul Leafs Into Overtime
Owen Power's 3v3 goal puts Buffalo ahead, but the Leafs had the bigger chances over the night.
Written during the game · 9:55 PM ET. Final was BUF 5, TOR 4 (OT).
The Sabres lead the Leafs 5-4 in overtime, and the box score makes this look like a Buffalo comeback. The chances tell a different story: Toronto's were slightly better.
The Leafs had 19 high-danger chances to Buffalo's 17. Their expected goals (how many their chances were worth) came to 3.60, against 3.42 for the Sabres. Kirill Marchenko scored three times for Toronto, and the Leafs still trail.
Tage Thompson's line in this game is one assist, on Mattias Samuelsson's tying goal at 12:16 of the third, which made it 4-4. That play was worth only 0.09 expected goals, so it was no grade-A look. Thompson plays on Buffalo's second line with Josh Doan and Peyton Krebs, and that goal is the only point we can credit to him.
Then Owen Power scored 3:14 into overtime for the lead. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 26 of 30 and Sergei Bobrovsky 29 of 34, so neither goalie stole it.
