Sabres Return Home For ‘Road Game’ Against Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs always have a heavy contingent of their fans traveling down the QEW when they play against the Buffalo Sabres. The Leafs fanbase is one of the largest as one of the NHL’s oldest clubs, but they especially are most noticeable in Detroit, most Canadian cities, and in Buffalo because of the cheaper ticket prices of Sabres games over Leaf home games at Scotiabank Arena.

Traditionally, the invasion of fans wearing blue and white is the ratio of about 50/50, but with the Sabres winless in 11 straight and in last place in the Eastern Conference, Friday’s game against the Maple Leafs is expected to be much more one-sided in favor of Buffalo’s Atlantic Division rival, as season ticket holders may be selling their seats for exponentially more than they paid for them to eager Leafs fans.

Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff approached the game on Friday almost as if his club were playing on the road.

“You’ve got to embrace the challenge. It’s not what you want to see in your building,” Ruff said. “It’s all about the two points, not about the fans. If we play well, we can take the fans out of the game.”

The pro-Toronto contingent has not meant much historically, as the Sabres usually save their best efforts and get more emotionally invested when they play their nearest geographic rival (Buffalo is 74-32-6-3 against the Leafs at the Aud and KeyBank Center) than against any other team.

The Sabres handed Toronto a 9-3 drubbing (the Leafs most one-sided defeat) just prior to Christmas nearly one year ago, which should provide a glimmer of hope for Buffalo ending their long losing skid.

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