Mere moments after Auston Matthews scored goal #60 on the season, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres found themselves in a full-blown line brawl with under a minute to go in the third period of their Saturday night matchup at KeyBank Arena in Buffalo, all thanks to a hit from behind from Rasmus Dahlin on Leafs defenseman T.J. Brodie.
As Dahlin had shoved Brodie from behind into the boards in a dangerous area of the ice, Sabres winger Alex Tuch also launched himself towards Brodie, with all 3 players ending up in a pile in the corner, setting Leafs defenseman Mark Giordano off. Giordano entered the fray and took a few swings before all 5 players on the ice paired off, holding one another back. It was only a matter of seconds before all hell broke loose.
As a result of the melee, all 5 Leafs players and all 5 Sabres players were issued 10-minute misconducts and removed from the game. Unfortunately, with Auston Matthews on the ice for the line brawl, he was unable to push for goal number 61 on the season thanks to the call from the officials.
For the Buffalo Sabres, getting embarrassed on home ice, losing 3-0 to the team from up the road in what felt more like a Leafs home game than a Sabres home game likely contributed to tensions boiling over. The Sabres are not a playoff team, so nothing about their contributions to the scrum was with the playoffs in mind.
The Leafs, on the other hand, are preparing for the playoffs and are certainly in playoff mode right now. If this is the type of game they're bringing into the first round, heaven help whoever they draw in round 1, because regardless of what happens, they're going to know they were in a fight, win or lose.
