TORONTO - Jason Pominville scored on the power play at 14:42 of the third period Friday as the Buffalo Sabres won their third straight pre-season game, 2-1 over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Leafs killed off four previous penalties before Pominville finally struck for the Sabres with the man advantage. With Cody Franson in the box for holding, the puck got caught in some traffic in front. Pominville was in the right place to snap in his second of the pre-season past Leafs goalie James Reimer.
With both sides featuring almost full-strength squads, Buffalo dominated the bulk of the early exchanges with the Sabres' opening goal coming at 7:15 of the first
Buffalo's Matt Ellis fed rookie Corey Tropp off a Leafs turnover and he beat Reimer low for a 1-0 lead.
Despite getting off to a slow start, Toronto pressed late in the first. With 14 minutes gone, Nazem Kadri had a few cracks at a loose puck at the side of the net but Ryan Miller stacked the pads to keep the Leafs off the scoreboard.
Toronto sniper Phil Kessel had a few chances to even the score in the opening minutes of the second, but Miller stopped everything that came at him.
Despite being outshot 15-4 in the second period, the Sabres nearly double their lead six minutes into the period. On a rare foray into the Leafs zone, T.J. Brennan rang a shot off the crossbar that beat Reimer cleanly.
The play leading up to Toronto's equalizer was started and finished by Kessel. Kessel started the play by passing to John-Michael Liles. Liles brought the puck right in front of the net before being checked but the loose puck fell to Kessel, who banged it in at 8:32 of the second.
Miller saved the game for the Sabres just seconds after his team had taken the lead. Having played himself out of position, Miller was able to sprawl back and get his glove to a goal-bound shot off the stick of Joffrey Lupul.
