By Canadian Press

Hinostroza, Krebs lead Sabres over Maple Leafs in Heritage Classic

Mar 13, 2022 | 5:30 PM

HAMILTON — Vinnie Hinostroza had two goals and an assist as the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 in the Heritage Classic outdoor game Sunday.

Peyton Krebs added two goals of his own for Buffalo (20-32-8), which got 36 stops from Craig Anderson. Tage Thompson added an empty netter.

Auston Matthews added to his NHL goal lead with his 45th of the season, while Ondrej Kase also scored for Toronto (37-17-5). The under-fire Petr Mrazek made 31 saves at a windy Tim Hortons Field.

Hinostroza snapped a 2-2 tie at 5:16 of the third when he fired a shot from a sharp angle in the corner for his 10th on a play Mrazek will desperately want back.

Krebs then made it 4-2 with 6:11 left with his sixth that trickled through Mrazek after the Leafs goaltender dislodged the net on a strange play that stood up after video review.

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Thompson added a short-handed empty netter at with 2:25 left in regulation for his 24th.

Fans in attendance at the home of the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats, which sits roughly 70 kilometres from Toronto and 100 kilometres from Buffalo, bundled up on a day where the temperature felt like -7 C when factoring in the wind chill for the 4 p.m. local time puck drop.

Crews had to clear snow off the ice a couple of times prior to warmups at the first NHL regular-season game in Steeltown since March 1994. But the flurries mostly subsided once the action got underway in front of a sellout crowd of 26,119.

The Leafs sported dark blue jerseys that pay homage to the Toronto Arenas – one of the franchise’s previous iterations that played from 1917 to 1919 – while the Sabres wore cream-coloured threads.

Toronto, which was booed off the ice at home following a 5-1 loss Buffalo on March 2 and sat 33 points on the Sabres at the start of play, entered having surrendered four goals or more in nine of its last 11 games.

Kase opened the scoring 40 seconds into the second period when he shovelled a William Nylander rebound past Anderson for his 12th of the campaign.

Buffalo responded just 41 seconds later when Hinostroza stripped Leafs defenceman Timothy Liljegren and fed Krebs to bury his fifth.

The Leafs retook the lead at 2:57 when Matthews fired his 45th on a shot that dribbled through Anderson to get within two of the star centre’s career-high of 47 goals as “M-V-P” chants rang around Tim Hortons Field.

But the Sabres got back on even terms once again at 10:53 when Hinostroza’s pass in front went in Toronto’s net off defenceman T.J. Brodie for his ninth.

Coming off an ugly performance where he allowed four goals on 12 shots before being pulled in Thursday’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Arizona Coyotes, Mrazek made a terrific glove save on Casey Mittelstadt early in the third period before failing to seal his post on Hinostroza’s winner.

Mrazek got the start ahead of rookie Erik Kallgren with No. 1 goaltender Jack Campbell nursing a rib injury.

The Leafs netminder made a nice stop on Alex Tuch off the rush on Buffalo’s 10th shot of the opening period before Anderson, who picked up the 300th regular-season victory of his career Thursday, denied Matthews at the other on a late power play.

Notes: Anderson won of both his previous outdoor starts in 2014 and 2017 with the Ottawa Senators, while Mrazek was victorious in his only other action in the elements with the Detroit Red Wings in 2016. … Brodie picked up an assist on Toronto’s second goal for the 300th point of his career. … Canada’s Olympic women’s hockey team, which won gold at last month’s Beijing Games, was honoured before the game. … Ukrainian defenceman Artur Cholach of the Ontario Hockey League’s Barrie Colts dropped the puck for the ceremonial faceoff alongside Wayne Gretzky.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 13, 2022.

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Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press