TORONTO (AP) 鈥� Alex Tuch scored twice and the Buffalo Sabres overcame Toronto star Auston Matthews' third hat trick of the season to beat the Maple Leafs 6-4 on Saturday night.
JJ Peterka had a goal and an assist, Tage Thompson, Jeff Skinner and Jordan Greenway also scored and Devon Levi made 25 saves to help Buffalo improve to 6-6-0.
鈥淓ven if they scored, we didn鈥檛 let them get too much momentum,鈥� Tuch said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 sit back and whine and complain. We just kept playing Sabres hockey.鈥�
Toronto has dropped four straight (0-2-2) to fall to 5-4-2.
鈥淎 lot of heavy lifting for our top guys right now,鈥� Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got a bunch of guys that we need to get playing better.鈥�
Mitch Marner had a goal and three assists for Toronto, while William Nylander extended his franchise-record points streak to open a season to 11 games with an assist.
鈥淓veryone wants to execute 鈥� everyone wants to produce,鈥� Marner said. 鈥淪tay patient with it, stay positive.鈥�
Joseph Woll made 35 stops for Toronto.
Tuch gave Buffalo a 5-4 lead with 7:12 left when Rasmus Dalhin鈥檚 point shot hit the big winger and caromed past Woll.
Tuch added an exclamation point with 1:06 to go when he buried his third into an empty net after fighting off Nylander and John Klingberg.
Matthews has an NHL-high 11 goals this season. He has 10 career hat tricks.
鈥淓very time we were in control and the game was right there for us, just gave it back 鈥� right back,鈥� Matthews said. 鈥淲e just haven鈥檛 played a full, complete team game where we鈥檙e rolling out four lines and making it really difficult on the opposing team for a full 60 minutes.鈥�
UP NEXT
Sabres: At Carolina on Tuesday night.
Maple Leafs: Host Tampa Bay on Monday night.
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AP NHL:
The Associated Press
