Photo Credit: John E. Sokolowski/USA TODAY SPORTS

It’s another rendition of the Battle of the QEW tonight, as the Toronto Maple Leafs host the Buffalo Sabres at the Air Canada Centre this evening. Here’s what we expect to go down. 

Toronto Maple Leafs lines courtesy of Daily Faceoff

I’d pull the “Free Marchenko” card here, but the third pair was actually pretty good against St. Louis and the team as a group only gave up a single regulation goal; not to mention, got better as the game progressed. Josh Leivo also definitely earned another look tonight, as he appeared to reinvigorate a slumping fourth line. 

Buffalo Sabres lines courtesy of Daily Faceoff

The Sabres are one of only a few teams in the NHL where you can say that Toronto is comfortably better on the back-end, especially at even strength where brand names like Ristolainen and Kulikov are, uhh, not great. Buffalo is without Cody Franson and Zach Bogosian, which makes things even worse.

With that in mind, this needs to be the Leafs’ most relentless game of the season. Rush them. Take risks. Barring a lucky night, this isn’t a group that’s situated to handle it at all. 

Mike Babcock said that he wanted Frederik Andersen to snap out of his slump by working through it, and while he took an OTL against the Blues afterward, his actual performance was in line with that hope. Andersen stopped 38 of 40, and on most nights, that would be enough to win the game. Beating the Sabres is something that Freddy has already done a couple of times this year; he’s 2-0 with a 0.943 save percentage in his games against Buffalo.

On the other side of the net, you’ll find Robin Lehner. He was pulled in their last matchup and will likely be looking for redemption; it’s up to the Leafs to not give it to him.

Again; all the pressure. This needs to be a rebound game after a goal-quiet loss, where the Leafs prey on a broken down (from already questionable) defensive corps and a goalie that’s already had issues with them. There’s simply no excuse for a bad effort tonight.

Puck drop is at 7:00 PM. You’ll find the game on Hockey Night in Canada.