Sabres Visit Maple Leafs With Dahlin Likely Out Again
Buffalo and Toronto both enter Thursday's first meeting of 2026-27 at 3-3-1, with Rasmus Dahlin expected to miss a second straight game.
The Buffalo Sabres play the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday, Oct. 15, at 7 p.m. ET at Scotiabank Arena, and they will likely do it without Rasmus Dahlin. Coach Lindy Ruff said Wednesday on his WGR radio appearance that the defenceman is expected to miss a second game with an upper-body injury.
That means heavy minutes again for Owen Power (28:22 on Tuesday), Mattias Samuelsson (26:38) and Olen Zellweger (25:49). Dennis Gilbert (8:41) figures to be in the lineup once more.
The teams are Atlantic Division rivals with identical 3-3-1 records, and this is the first of four meetings between them this season. It is the second game of a three-game Canadian road trip for Buffalo. The trip began Tuesday with a 4-3 shootout loss in Montreal, a game in which Buffalo struggled to generate offence for most of the night before earning a point with a third-period push. That followed Monday's 5-3 win over the Panthers.
Ruff contrasted Buffalo’s pace and puck skills in the Florida win with its performance the next night, suggesting the back-to-back schedule may have contributed to fatigue.
Toronto is home after a 1-1-1 trip out west. The Leafs are missing defenceman Chris Tanev, who is out with an upper-body injury, and forwards Max Domi and Dakota Joshua are both on long-term injured reserve.
Buffalo did not practise Wednesday. The club said lineup and starting-goalie updates would follow its 11:30 a.m. morning skate and 6:30 p.m. warmups (all times Eastern). The game is on MSG in the Sabres broadcast market, with pregame coverage at 6:30 p.m.
