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Speedy Leafs sweep Sabres, Babcock to consolidate lineup in upcoming games |
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The Toronto Maple Leafs notched a 3-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres at the Key Bank Center on Saturday, and their
James van Riemsdyk, Kasperi Kapanen and Nikita Soshnikov scored for Toronto, while the duo of Frederik Andersen and Kaskimir Kaskisuo made 24 saves for the victory, their second straight over their Atlantic Division rival.
Defenseman Nikita Zaitsev saw action for the first time and registered an assist on van Riemsdyk’s opening goal 5:25 into the first period. Zaitsev appeared rusty at times, but saw over 22 minutes of ice time on the Leafs top pairing with Jake Gardiner.
The most impressive duo on the night was that of rookie Calle Rosen and Connor Carrick. The 23-year-old Swede on a couple instances showed his skating ability and jumped into the attack for an offensive attack.
Carrick, who was -3 in his debut against Ottawa last week, dropped down from the point on a third period power play and set up Kapanen for the game-winner 58 seconds into the third period.
Conversely, it was another bad performance for veteran Martin Marincin. The lanky defender was walked around by a Sabres forward in the first period and was forced to tackle Evander Kane to prevent a odd-man break.
With the impressive performances of Rosen, Andreas Borgman and Travis Dermott thus far, it appears the only way that Marincin will make the club is as their seventh defenseman, since the Leafs will want their young players playing regularly in the American Hockey League instead of sitting in the press box.
Another area of strength on the night was in the faceoff circle. Dominic Moore, fighting for the fourth line center job with Miro Aaltonen, won eight of 10 draws and Eric Fehr won nine of 12.
The Leafs have an off day after back-to-back games and will face the Montreal Canadiens at Ricoh Coliseum on Monday. Babcock indicated after the game that the focus of practices and the constitution of the Toronto lineup over the next few games will change.
“I’ve got four games (left), I’m gonna dress some real good lineups in a couple of those games, as far as NHL players go and then we’re gonna have some NHL practices.” Babcock said. “That doesn’t mean anything will be in stone, but it will give (the media) something to write about and talk about for a couple days before we really decide what we’re doing.”
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Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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