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Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Brandon Carlo celebrates the victory over the Buffalo Sabres with goalie Cayden Primeau (Gerry Angus-Imagn Images)

John Tavares Scores Overtime Winner to Lift Maple Leafs Past Sabres

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Zach Berta | Last updated Oct 25, 2025 8:16 PM ET

The Toronto Maple Leafs hosted the Buffalo Sabres in the second game of a back-to-back home-and-home set. The Sabres were winners of four of their last five games heading into this game, including a 5-3 win last night in Buffalo. The Maple Leafs had lost their last five straight games and were looking to get back on track in this game.

First Period

The Sabres got off to a fast start as they had sustained pressure in the Maple Leafs’ zone early, but the Maple Leafs did a great job of holding the Sabres’ puck possession to the perimeter. Two and a half minutes into the game, Josh Dunne committed an interference penalty, but the Sabres’ penalty kill, which has been great to start the season, was able to kill off the penalty. Seven minutes into the game, Jake McCabe committed a high-sticking penalty, but the Maple Leafs were unable to capitalize on it. Shortly after, Oliver Ekman-Larsson committed a cross-checking penalty. The Sabres had their first power play of the game and came close to opening up the scoring on it, but the only thing stopping Jason Zucker from scoring was the crossbar, as he missed a goal by inches.

At 3:20, Tage Thompson received a pass from Jiri Kulich and was able to find the back of the net to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead. Later in the period, McCabe ended up hitting Bowen Byram up high, and Alex Tuch came in to defend his teammate right away, but the fight did not last long as Tuch was unable to regain his balance and McCabe took him down. Tuch was assessed a two-minute penalty for instigating, a five-minute major penalty and a ten-minute game misconduct. He did make his return midway through the second period. The Maple Leafs were unable to capitalize on another power play. With 1:27 to go in the period, Nicholas Robertson was able to find the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1.

Second Period

Two minutes into the period, Mattias Macelli broke the tie to take the lead 2-1 as he was left uncovered backdoor for an easy tap-in goal. The Sabres tried to answer right away as Thompson had a glorious scoring chance right in front of Primeau, but he was able to stop Thompson from tying the game. A few minutes later, the Maple Leafs were given their third power play of the game, but they were unsuccessful on that attempt as well.

At 6:59, the Sabres thought they tied the game at 2-2, but upon further discussion between the refs, it was decided that Zach Benson interfered with Primeau, leading to the goal being called off. Following the disallowed goal, there was a five-minute stretch of game time that the Maple Leafs had sustained pressure, but they were not able to extend their lead. With 5:37 remaining in the second period, Byram took a shot from the point which found its way through traffic and past Primeau to tie the game. With 2:48 to go in the second period, the Sabres were given a power play; however, they were unable to pose any real threat to the Maple Leafs as they were unsuccessful on their power play.

Third Period

It was mostly an uneventful period, but in the first six minutes, it was all Sabres, which eventually led to them drawing a penalty. On that power play, with 12:54 remaining, Thompson scored to take the lead for the Sabres 3-2. With 6:50 remaining in the third period, the Maple Leafs were able to tie the game up at 3-3 as Dakota Joshua beat Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. With four minutes remaining in regulation, the Sabres had a rush towards the Maple Leafs’ net, and Thompson had a chance back door but was unable to find the back of the net, and the puck ended up in the corner. The game would need overtime to decide a winner.

Overtime

The Sabres controlled possession for most of overtime, including a few scoring chances and a 2-on-1 that they were unable to score on. Following the 2-on-1, John Tavares found the loose puck and, on a breakaway, ended up finding the back of the net to win the game 4-3 and gain the extra point.