Maple Leafs drop final pre-season game to Sabres in high scoring affair

After sending Nazem Kadri back to junior, and two others to the Marlies, the Toronto Maple Leafs lost just their third game of the pre-season, in their final one, 7-6 to the Buffalo Sabres Sunday night at the ACC.

Tomas Vanek had a pair of goals in the Sabres victory, while MacArthur, Kennedy, Gerbe, and Ellis also scored for Buffalo.

It was a sloppy game to say the least in Toronto, with more turnovers than one could count.

It was all looking good for the Bud's after 20 minutes, as they held the 2-0 lead. Once the second started, the Sabres answered back with three straight of their own.

Toronto then scored to tie it before Buffalo added two more to restore their lead.

The Maple Leafs then began what looked like another one of their combacks, with Grabovski scoring at 18:35 in the third, and a late penalty and icing call against the Sabres. However, the Leafs were never able to complete the comeback and fell to the Sabres 7-6, to split the pre-season series, one game a piece.

The Bud's will head of to Huntsville, Ontario for some team bonding activities, before heading it back to Toronto where they will host the Montreal Canadiens in game one of 82. Gametime is 7pm and it can be seen on CBC, or heard on AM640.

Maple Leafs take game two of home-and-home with Detroit

The Maple Leafs won their second straight game Saturday night, and their sixth of the pre-season, with a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings.

The Red Wings got on the board first when Brad Stuart's slapshot beat Vesa Toskala with just 32 seconds left in the first period. The Maple Leafs then scored two straight, in the second and third, from Gunnarsson (PP) and Stahlberg.

The Leafs didnt look back from there as they held on to sweep the home-and-home by beating the Red Wings 2-1.

Vesa Toskala allowed one goal on seven shots, while Jonas Gustavsson saved all 15 shots that he faced.

The Maple Leafs are now 6-2 this pre-season, and will face the Sabres at the ACC tomorrow night to wrap up the pre-season before getting ready to face the Montreal Canadiens in game one of 2009/10 campaign. Tomorrow night's game time is 7pm and the game can be seen on Leafs TV.

Maple Leafs Down Red Wings In Dramatic Fashion

The Toronto Maple Leafs won their fifth game of the pre-season to improve their record to 5-2-0.

Viktor Stahlberg opened the scoring in the first period with his thrid of the pre-season, before scoring his second of the game, and fourth of the pre-season, to put the Maple Leafs up 2-0. Nazem Kadri then scored half way through the 2nd period to give the Maple Leafs a three goal lead. It wasnt until fourteen minutes into the second that the Red Wings got on the board, when Niklas Kronwall potted his first of two goals on the night to make it 3-1.

Once the Red Wings made it 3-2 they tied it and then took the lead with two straight goals, just 14 seconds apart, from Johan Franzen. With 1:11 remaining in the 3rd Mikhail Grabovski scored to tie it at 4.

Grabovski then had another chance to score, which would have won the Maple Leafs with game, with 34 seconds left in overtime, before being hooked on what some people thought should have resulted in a penalty shot. The Maple Leafs could not score on the man advantage, however they would win the shootout 2-1, to win the game by a final score of 5-4.

The Maple Leafs will take on the Red Wings back at the ACC for part two of the home-and-home. Game time is 7:00pm and can be seen on CBC, and Leafs TV.