LFR19 – Game 9 – Next Man Up – Sabres 3, Maple Leafs 4 (OT)

LFR19 – Game 9 – Next Man Up – Sabres 3, Maple Leafs 4 (OT)

HAT GUY: You ever wonder who’s out there?
STEVE: I usually see who’s out there. I look at the screen and I see the players.
HAT GUY: No, like I mean we’re shooting this LFR video right now and game two of the 
World Series is on and the Jays are in it. STEVE: Yeah, but we have a job 
to do. The Leafs won, man! HAT GUY: And who’s even watching that? 
No one is watching this right now! LET’S GO – It starts with an A and ends 
with nxiety! – VARIOUS SCREAMS – Off the charts levels of PASSION! – MAXIMUM DOMI 
– THIS IS A NIGHTMARE! – Every year! – GO TO THE NET! – I AM GOING TO BECOME THE JOKER! – 
With you wherever you are. Welcome to LFR! LEAFS WIN! and that means victory puppies! 
FINALLY! That’s another $20 for the Humane Society of Durham Region. Why am I posing like 
this? LEAFS WIN! 4-3 in overtime over the Buffalo Sabres for a 5:00 hockey afternoon evening game 
in Canada. Because the Blue Jays are in the World Series. The Leafs are thoroughly second fiddle 
in the city of Toronto. It’s crazy. It’s what it is. Let’s talk about it. You know what’s 
weird? I usually make these LFR videos with the assumption that you watch the game. I know not 
everyone watches the game. Sometimes you’re like, “I want to get my recap from the crazy guy. 
Let’s go.” These last couple, I’m like, they might not have watched the game, especially 
yesterday’s, which was during the game, during the World Series. This one at least had the common 
decency to start before and end before. Before we get into the game, I want to do a 
huge shout out to all of you who donated to my Easter Seals team. Easter Seals is a charity 
that helps out kids with physical disabilities. It is a charity that helped out my family when 
I was younger. My sister, as you all know, has cerebral palsy, or you may not know, but she has 
cerebral palsy and we needed a lot of help when we were growing up. We attended Easter Seal summer 
camps and we got help with equipment for her and lots of things. I can’t say enough nice things 
about this charity. And every year in November, I play in a tournament. Badly. So bad. I am one of 
the worst, if not the worst players in attendance. Rachel’s Raiders, baby. We’re trying to raise 
money, and we usually do a pretty good job. This year has been a slog. This year is a slog, and 
I’m not done asking you for money yet. Right now, we have jumped into first place in the standings, 
but there are still a few players on the team who have not hit their thousand dollar goal. 
If you could help those players on Rachel’s Raiders hit their thousand dollar goal, I would be 
appreciative. And also, if you donate to anybody on Rachel’s Raiders, you are automatically 
entered to a chance to get two tickets to Leafs Senators December 27th. Any donation 
of any dollar amount to anyone on Rachel’s Raiders. Sound good? Sounds great. So, what was 
this game all about? Generally speaking, I think after a really rough week for the Leafs that began 
last Saturday, these last two games against the Buffalo Sabres were a step in the right direction. 
Now, you might roll your eyes and be like, “Well, it was against the Sabres.” And I’m not going 
to lie to you, I didn’t leave these last two games with the impression that the Buffalo Sabres 
were very good. I also kind of thought, yeah, they might be better than last year, though. In fact, 
I’m pretty sure they’re better than last year. And you can’t talk out of both sides of your mouth. A 
lot of people have been like, “Ah, the games don’t matter right now.” But also, “Oh, the Leafs are 
so bad. Look at their record.” Well, they have a better record than a lot of teams that were about 
as good as them last year. Tampa looks awful. And the Sabres are right around the same spot.
So, like, have the Sabres gone up? Have the Leafs come down? Is it both? Is it – You can only 
play and beat or lose to the team in front of you. The team in front of them tonight is Buffalo! Last 
night against Buffalo in Buffalo I thought was a step in the right direction sort of a little bit 
but at the end of the day they lost and because they’ve been struggling no one wants to hear that 
because they won this game it’s a little easier to hear. And if we’re going to move the goal 
post Morgan Rielly back in the lineup for this one William Nylander not the top line was Bobby 
McMann, Auston Matthews and Nick Robertson. I’m sorry coming out with two points in this game is 
good no matter how you slice it. Cayden Primeau in net too! No disrespect, but like who would you 
rather? Stolarz or Primeau? Before any goal is scored, something that might have changed the 
Leaf season in front of our eyes. And it’s the simplest thing. I’ve been looking for this team to 
get angry and rough and tumble and they just won’t do it. What have I been saying on the podcast for 
days now? If Buffalo wants to win these games, don’t rattle the Leafs cage. Just play hockey. 
Don’t antagonize them and they’ll have a lazy laxidasical game. If you make them mad, you might 
wake them up. Early in the game, Jiri Kulich, young guy with the Sabres, is holding on to 
Jake McCabe’s stick and he won’t let go of it and when McCabe wrestles it loose, he high sticks 
Kulich in the face. McCabe is the one who gets the penalty. McCabe didn’t like that. McCabe tried 
to convey to Kulich that he might be in trouble. Hold on to that because at first it would be the 
Leafs that were in trouble. Last game I talked about the Leafs defensive shortcomings and how a 
lot of it comes from their forwards being awful defensively. Nothing will illustrate that better 
than the Sabres first goal tonight. Here’s Simone Benoit and Philippe Myeers defending a two on 
two. Max Domi is also there and Tage Thompson is coming down the left wing. What do you see 
here? I see Philippe Myers pointing at Tage Thompson and Max Domi pointing at Tage Thompson. 
I don’t know what pointing at Tage Thompson means, but I don’t think it means the same thing 
for both players. You want to know how I know that? Because Philippe Myers took an actual 
Sabres attacker and Max Domi took a ghost! It’s an easy pass to an open player in Tage 
Thompson who can rip the thing and he rips the thing. One- nothing Sabres. Nope. Nope. Nope. 
Nope. Nope! Listen, Nylander’s gotten it at times. Matthews has gotten it bad at times. Max Domi has 
been unusable this season at center, on the wing, at whatever. If the puck is in the defensive 
zone and the other team has it and he’s there, oh no. Oh no. Oh, deepest no. The only thing I can 
think here is maybe Domi is saying, “Hey, Cowan” who is trailing in this play, “Maybe you go get 
him.” But like Cowan, he’s not going to get there! And like what what is he saying? Myers needs to 
go get him and I’ll get the second Sabres attacker who I’m not particularly near and I’m definitely 
not going to be in a foot race because I’m cutting towards Thompson! Whenever the Leafs have 
defensive lapses, you can’t just be like, “Oh, their defense. all their defense.” What do you 
mean by that? Is it just the six guys they employ to play D that night? No. Very extraordinarily 
no. You can’t have a center who you don’t trust defensively at all. And if you do have a center 
you don’t trust defensively at all, he better score a butt ton of points. No! If you’re looking 
at early season trade targets and like guys who just don’t fit, Max, Max, Max. It’s been awful. I 
hope he can step it up. He stepped it up late last season. He stepped it up in the playoffs. He seems 
to always step it up in the playoffs, so it’ll be difficult to get rid of a player like that. Holy 
cow. He’s – He’s been absolutely terrible. Now, next, remember that thing where Jake McCabe got 
mad? Well, eventually he came out of the box and Bowen Byram is looking down at the puck and Jake 
McCabe blows him up. Alex Tuch comes in. Alex Tuch gets his gloves off first because that’s 
what you do when a teammate gets blown up. “Are we going to fight after every clean hit?” 
Yes! It’s what the good teams do! Yes. “Well, that’s dumb.” NO. If it’s what the good teams do 
and you’re not doing it, you’re dumb. That’s how that works. Anyway, Alex Tuch comes in, gloves 
off first. McCabe turns him to the side, says, “Say cheese.” Tuck says, “What?” And McCabe, 
just HADUUUUKEN. Oh does he cold cocks him! Oh, that is as flush a punch as you’re going to 
see to Tuch. McCabe scores the knockdown. McCabe takes out Byram. McCabe is called for five 
minutes. They review it and give him nothing. And the Leafs come out of it with a power play and 
Tuch is in the box for 10 minutes! Two, five, and 10 for Tuch. McCabe gets five for fighting 
and the Leafs get a power play. Do the Leafs score in that power play? No. But Jake McCabe has 
nothing to do with that. THAT is the kind of thing that changes your season around. Spoiler alert, 
but don’t believe me. Who got the belt tonight? There he is! Jake McCabe with the game belt. 
Brandon Carlo and Morgan Rielly there with him. McCabe was one of the only Leafs who looked good 
against the Sabres on Friday. He killed the full two minutes of a five on three. And now here 
he is. You know, so many of the Leafs, so such huge chunks of this roster are utterly dogless. 
You can never say that about Jake McCabe. He doesn’t need an excuse to be in a bad mood. 
Listen, the Florida Panthers Stanley Cup rings say apologize to no one. Puck in your feet? I’m 
blowing you up. Apologize to no one. Someone wants to fight you and you knock them on their bum? 
Apologize to no one. It’s the NHL. If you’re not hurting your opponent, you’re not trying. 
“Oh, Steve the-” Who’s Who’s the champions? Who’s – Thank you. Now, speeding up. The Leafs 
do score to tie it up. Auston Matthews doing good work behind the Sabres net. Easton Cowan 
doing good work behind the Sabres net. And they come out with the puck. Nick Robertson shows 
up in the frame like be very very quiet. Cowan turns and faces where a player should be because a 
player should be there. And Nick Robertson’s like, you’re correct! Easiest goal of his career. It’s 
a tap in because no Sabre picks him up. Cowan with another point. Matthews with the helper 
because of the hard work in the end boards. Robertson with his first assist. Nope. First 
goal of the season. The World Series is on. I’m so sorry. 1-1 after one. Leafs even get the lead 
in the second because that second line of Knies Tavares and Maccelli continues to work. Knies and 
Tavares have really sneakily been well Knies less so, but Tavares has been sneakily unbelievable 
all season long. So unbelievable that you got to worry about them a lot, which means you completely 
forget that Matias Maccelli exists. I love this play from this line because you’re not expecting 
Maccelli to be the player who’s netfront there. Tavares puts it on. Maccelli redirects it and it’s 
in. He scores. His second as a Leaf. This guy only had eight goals in 55 games last year. He scored 
two in very short order. And all of a sudden, finally over the last couple games, some of 
the guys who the Leafs have acquired in this off season are performing. Do the good times 
last? Alas, they do not. Bowen Byram scores to tie it up for the Buffalo Sabres with a shot from 
the point. No one blocks it. And Cayden Primeau, who had been pretty good in this game, honestly, 
does not see it. Why doesn’t he see it? Oh my goodness. Look at that mass of humanity in front. 
And I don’t want to pick on the guy, but there are two Leafs in that Net front battle and one of 
them is Max Domi. The puck was in the Leafs zone. a lot when he was out there too much and 
like in a dangerous way. Last year’s Leafs, last year’s Berube Leafs were great at having 
the puck in their zone and you just not really being all that worried about it. Yeah, keep 
it to the outside. I don’t care. Oh no, a muffin from the point that gets blocked by the 
mass of humanity in the slot. Oh dear. Dude you got to be better than that. You just flatly 
have to be better than that. Third period, the Leafs continue to take too many penalties. 
The Leafs are now on the power play. No, they’re not. The Leafs are now on the penalty kill.
This is another one I’m not totally sure that Cayden Primeau sees. But Tage Thompson, whose 
goals appear to be oxygen, scores again. McCabe goes into the butterfly, which is valiant and 
everything, but I don’t know if it was the most effective thing here. Sabres have the lead in 
the third. Again, I keep talking about this. Everyone’s distracted by the Blue Jays right 
now. It’s possible that you come out of the World Series haze, win or lose, and you look at 
the Leafs and you go, “Oh, wow. They’re awful. Their record is what? How did they get there?” I’m 
sorry. You lose that bad one to the Kraken. You lose that. Oh my god. Awful one to the Devils and 
then back to back to the Sabres culminating with one at home? Yeah, no. People are going to start 
to talk. I’m sorry. What would the discourse have been? I guess we’ll never know! Because Dakota 
Joshua, another Leaf acquired in the off season, showing up. Cuts to the middle and he takes a 
shot. I’ll be straight like Luukkonen should have stopped this. Maybe he was a little thrown 
off because Nic Roy said go to the net. Roy not get an assist on this one, but he was in front 
and this line is cooking. Eastston Cowan on for two Leaf goals, four and Dakota Joshua with two 
goals in two nights that they badly needed. Two third period goals. One to bring the Leafs within 
one and one to tie. With all the early season injuries and different guys struggling, the Leafs 
have badly needed guys, other guys to step up, especially the guys who they went out and got. 
Maccelli and Joshua have done that this week and so the game goes to overtime. John Tavares, 
he looks like he’s got something go. Oh no. Oh no. Oh, it’s a two on one the other way! This 
was pandemonium threeon three in a nutshell. It’s a two on one. Oh heavens. Oh no. Oliver 
Ekman-Larsson hits L1R1 on his PlayStation controller, but he spins while doing it. It works? 
And he kicks the puck away from the two-on-one, but Owen Power picks it up. Dude, it just slides 
off his stick. That can’t happen. Matthew Knies, right place, right time, drives into the corner, 
picks up the puck. John Tavares, be very, very quiet, sneaks for the breakaway. Knies with 
the dart! Tage Thompson with the panic strides and he stumbles just enough that he can’t catch 
Tavares because Tage reached and he stumbled when he reached and Tavares says you reach – I TEACH! I 
didn’t I didn’t come up with that one but I think it’s pretty good. John Tavares! His fifth goal of 
the season! I’m telling you, JT’s been excellent and the Leafs win it in overtime. Exhale. This 
isn’t a question, but it’s very important. William Nylander is dealing with a lower body injury, 
says Craig Berube. Thanks to Nick Barton for the reporting here. He hopes that Nylander will 
be able to go on Tuesday versus Calgary. That is extremely good news. I thought it was odd that 
Nylander took warm-up but decided not to play, but obviously if he took warm-up, that means he’s 
close. From Duane Steinel, who’s a big old Buffalo Sabres fan. Why do you smell? Why do I smell? Let 
me let me let me check my pocket. See why I smell! Duane SteineL. Maybe one day Leafs fans and Sabres 
fans form an alliance in their joint perpetual misery. But today is not that day! My friends, 
for now, that is it for this one. Thank you very much for watching. Click like if you like this 
video. Click subscribe if you really liked it. Tell all your friends. See you Monday with a brand 
new episode of the Steve Dangle podcast on SDPN, and remember to continue to watch our World 
Series coverage. Jesse Blake streaming every game.

Donate to Easter Seals! https://eastersealsontario.akaraisin.com/ui/lindros2025/p/078df4e3c0c444d59a551259d78a749e

Steve Dangle recaps and analyzes Game 9 of the Toronto Maple Leafs season against the Buffalo Sabres

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