The Maple Leafs played desperate hockey in a do or die contest against the division rival Buffalo Sabres, blowing a two goal lead in the second period, but responding with a highlight reel goal by Mikhail Grabovski and held on in the third to win 4-3 in front of a sellout crowd at the Air Canada Centre.

Dion Phaneuf opened the scoring just 94 seconds into the game when a blast just inside the blueline got past the glove hand of Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller. Toronto maintained a vigorous forecheck and had a number of chances in the first ten minutes, but were unable to increase their lead. Buffalo dominated play in the second half of the period, but Leafs goaltender James Reimer made saves on Mark Mancari and Thomas Vanek to preserve.

Toronto increased their lead with just over a minute remaining, as rookie Nazem Kadri beat Sabres defenseman Shaone Morrisonn to the puck and moved in front of the net. Miller stopped Kadri, but the subsequent rebound was cashed in by linemate Darryl Boyce.

The Sabres cut the lead in half mostly due to some irresponsible defensive play by the Kessel-Bozak-Lupul line, who were pressing for a third goal in the final minute, but turned over the puck and allowed a Buffalo counterattack which ended up with Thomas Vanek roofing the puck past James Reimer with 12 seconds remaining in the period.

In the second, the Leafs squandered a golden opportunity to increase their lead when they had a 69 second two-man advantage, but their lack luster power play continued to be ineffective and only managed one good scoring chance.

After returning to even strength Toronto restored their two-goal lead as Kadri made a nice feed to Clarke MacArthur, who snapped it by Miller for his 21st of the year, but soon after the yielded the lead in short order as Jason Pominville scored on a weak backhand to make it 3-2 and just 30 seconds later Carl Gunnarsson’s tentative miscue allowed veteran Rob Niedermayer to steal the puck and backhand it past an unsuspecting Reimer to tie the game.

Toronto took the lead for good with just over six minutes remaining in the period when MacArthur made a risky long bomb pass from deep in his own zone that connected with a breaking Kessel, who fed a pass to Mikhail Grabovski, who quickly snapped it by Miller.

The third period was nerve racking as the Leafs had three power play chances and 14 shots on goal, but could not beat Ryan Miller to ice the game away. Buffalo had a late power play chance due to a Tyler Bozak holding call and pulled the goalie for a two-man advantage, but were unable to tie the game.

With the victory, Toronto moves to within five points of Buffalo and still trail ninth place Carolina by two points due to their 3-2 shootout victory against Washington.

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