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Posted at 2:30 PM EST.

7:30 PM EST. Regulation only, The Sabres have two wins in their last three games and they occurred against Tampa Bay and Boston but those teams took them lightly and got burned. The truth about the Sabres is that they openly tanked for two years before missing the playoffs for two more years. They will miss it again this year. The Sabres have nine wins at home, which is the worst in the league. Losing was supposed to be over. Maybe it's just ingrained so deep in the Sabres' culture right now that it's going to be a lot harder to escape than anyone thought. They have weak analytics and a weak goaltender going tonight in Chad Johnson.

Had the Leafs beaten Washington on Saturday night or not lost three in a row, we’d probably be laying off them here due to complacency or motivation issues but that does not come into play when a Mike Babcock-coached team drops three in a row. That freak show you saw on Saturday night was not the Maple Leafs. That was a bunch of freezing cold, unprepared players wearing embarrassing space suits outdoors while their usual reliable goaltender looked completely uncomfortable from the puck drop on. We’ll likely get it back here with interest because the real Maple Leafs will show up at a rink they can practically call their second home. Thousands of Ontario residents make the short trip across the border to watch the Leafs play here so there are likely going to be more Leafs’ fans in the stands than Buffalo fans. Regardless, Toronto is always well supported here. More importantly, the Leafs’ focus and intensity levels will be high. The Leafs, even without Auston Matthews still create more high danger scoring chances than any team in the NHL and that bodes well against a weak goaltender like Johnson (confirmed). This one is all about a big response from the Leafs to get them back on the winning track again and after being embarrassed on Saturday night.

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