TORONTO – Frederik Andersen made at least one glaring error that resulted in a goal and stayed in to win the game.
Robin Lehner committed just one gaffe — in his mind, at least — got yanked, glared at his coach on the way off, slammed his helmet to the ground in a fit of screaming rage, and lost a chance to record three consecutive wins, something he’s never done as a Buffalo Sabre.
“I’m frustrated with myself,” Lehner said in the visitors’ room after a 4-3 loss to the soaring Toronto Maple Leafs. Lehner was shaking and selecting his words carefully.
“Sometimes you make mistakes. I think I’ve been pretty good this year about letting it go and keep going. There hasn’t been many games I’ve let in more than three. I think one or two.”
In truth, there have been five, but none since Nov. 17, and Lehner has only once surrendered more than four in a game since being traded from Ottawa to Buffalo in 2015.
Carey Price allowed seven five days ago. Matt Murray gave up seven Monday; Braden Holtby missed five in the same contest. Legend has it, Al Montoya once hung around to allow 10. And poor Henrik Lundqvist gave way to seven Tuesday night and 20 in his last four starts, but that’s another story.
You could make a case — and, oh, Lehner did — that the first Leafs’ goal, a Leo Komarov tip which arrived on the first shift of the second period, was a fluke. An anything-toward-the-net shot by Nazem Kadri bounced off a net-crashing Komarov, off defender Jake McCabe’s skate, and past Lehner.
But the second goal induced cringes. Leafs fourth-liner Matt Martin wristed a muffin from the boards, and it weaseled under Lehner’s armpit to tie the game.
“I feel like I have my post pretty good. It hits a pretty good spot where it just sneaks through,” Lehner explained.
“I want that back. I’m a goaltender. It’s part of my life. Mistakes happen. I want to save everything.”
You may recall the Sabres’ No. 1 goalie from such popular YouTube clips as “Robin Lehner’s Meltdown” or “Lehner drops gloves after bad hit.”
The man knows he has a temper. He says he’s getting better at taming it.
The third goal certainly wasn’t Lehner’s fault. Three Sabres, including an outplayed Jack Eichel, went behind their own net in attempt to retrieve a puck that, like so many this season, was passed by Zach Hyman to Auston Matthews in the slot. Insta-release, bar down, Leafs lead 3-2, and Matthews hops over injured Patrik Laine for the lead in rookie goals with his 22nd.
“Pretty good shot, far cheese,” Lehner says.
It’s after that Matthews snipe — a difficult one to pin on the netminder — that Bylsma replaced him with Anders Nilsson. Oh, and it was also after Lehner smiled and waved into a fan’s smartphone during a television timeout. Far too much cheese.
“In 10 minutes we go from up 2-nothing to down 3-2 in the game. An unfortunate turn of events, how that second period played out,” says Bylsma, attributing the pull to the timeliness of the three goals. “At that point in time, you want to stop the momentum that the Leafs have.”
With points in 10 of their past 11, the Leafs’ momentum is at a rollicking high, while the rival Sabres — a club supposed to be a year ahead on its own rebuild — can’t seem to string three wins together.
“One of our team mottos is: Never two in a row,” said Eichel, referring to losses. “We’ve got to start making that more of a reality.
“All these teams that are high in the standings, they go on long win streaks—more than five games. It’d be important for us to do that.”
Instead, the Sabres have one lonely three-game win streak, and that was way back in October. They now sit seven points and seven teams away from a playoff spot. The only Eastern Conference club worse off than them just fired its coach.
There is a reason Lehner, whose contract expires this summer, was yelling upon his exit, veins bulging through his neck tattoos.
Though both he and Byslma maintain he was not hollering at his bench boss but rather just in general, the two men did not speak to each other in the dressing room. Bylsma avoided eye contact during the game. No face time here.
“He should be upset with getting pulled,” Bylsma said. “That’s part of Robin’s game, that emotion. I have no problem with that.”
Says Lenher: “He’s the coach. It’s his decision. I don’t like to give up. I don’t like to get out of the game. I’m a competitive guy. I want to end something I started.”
