Welcome back to the Battle Of The QEW where outrageous things can happen, and usually does.
Every time the Sabres and Leafs play, crazy things happen.
Tuesday night was no exception.
The Buffalo Sabres turned two turnovers, one by Freddy Andersen and one by Auston Matthews, into a fortuitous goals in the first period on Tuesday night in Toronto.
Goals by Kyle Okposo and Evander Kane gave the Sabres a lot of confidence as they skated to the room with the 2-0 lead after twenty minutes of play.
In the second period, all hell broke loose on Robin Lehner and the Buffalo D corps when the Leafs potted three goals in a nine minute span.
Sabres goalie Robin Lehner misplayed a puck that kissed off Jake McCabe and the Sabres led 2-1.
Then, Lehner allowed fourth line grinder Matt Martin to score a sleazy goal from no man's land. That goal cannot be scored on Lehner, not in a practice session and certainly not in an important Atlantic Division game between two teams who have hated one another for the past 47 years.
Rather than call a needed time out to give Lehner a swig of water and Bylsma a chance to reset his forwards and D, the game played on ties at 2-2. However, Auston Matthews scored his 22nd goal of the season while Buffalo D and forwards were caught gawking. Matthews wasted little time potting the puck.
Bylsma yanked Lehner after the super scary Swede allowed three goals on just nine shots in nine minutes of clock time.
Anders Nilsson replaced Lehner in the Buffalo net.
It's important to note that Lehner had never started back-to-back games for the Sabres until Tuesday night. Lehner defeated the Dallas Stars 4-1 on Monday afternoon.
Lehner won't be starting back-to-backers for Bylsma anytime soon after losing his cool and throwing a temper tantrum at The ACC.
Lehner is not what you would call warm and fuzzy on good days. After getting embarrassed in Toronto he was none too happy.
I don't care how embarrassed and angry Lehner was . He had no business showing up his teammates and head coach on his way to the bench after he was replaced by Anders Nilsson.
I don't give a damn how pissed off Lehner was at himself, his teammates and his coaches. He had no business chirping Bylsma and his teammates on his walk of shame to the bench.
On Monday, I witnessed Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn smashing three of his hockey sticks, one across the knee, in separate fits of rage and anger. It's a bad look for a team leader to let adversity get the better of him. On Tuesday night, it was Lehner's turn to act out in anger. Again, bad look.
Lehner's act is the kind of behavior that tends to drive wedges between teammates. It doesn't really inspire togetherness and unity. It divides rooms and causes guys to roll their eyes in disgust. Lehner's mens league routine was wring. He woes his head coach and teammates an apology for putting hi sown hurt feelings ahead of the team goals. If I'm Dan Bylsma, I want Lehner in my office, one on one. Manversation time.
Lehner isn't known for his long wick and thick skin. His opponents know how to get his goat. So too do Leafs fans like the two ladies who were clowning Lehner after he was sent to the showers.
In the end, the Sabres blew their third straight road game. As they had in Tampa and Carolina, Buffalo started fast and built an early lead. In Toronto, the Sabres could not make a 2-0 hold up.
Buffalo fell to 2-5-4 in its last 11 road games. Buffalo also has lost three of their past four games.
The 2016-17 Buffalo Sabres are a win two. lose three, win three, lose three type of team. For whatever reason, Bylsma cannot get his team to commit to playing 60 minutes of inspired hockey for multiple games in a row. It's as if these Savres are allergic to long winning streaks.
After the loss, Lehner said he wasn't screaming at anyone in particular after he was hooked from the game.
Lehner wasn't thrilled with getting hooked. "It's frustrating. I don't like to give up. I don't like to come out of the game."
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