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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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BUFFALO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have been on the same mission all season long - learning how to win.

In the season’s early goings, collecting points wasn’t easy. There were blown leads, shaky goaltending, defensive breakdowns, and youthful miscues for which the Maple Leafs always seemed to pay on the scoresheet.

With nine games left on the regular season schedule, not all of those issues have been totally rectified. But what’s changed is how the Maple Leafs look increasingly like a playoff-calibre team – not just some nights, but every night. A 7-1-1 stretch that’s included their best hockey of the season has Toronto in third place in the Atlantic Division heading into Saturday night’s tilt against Buffalo.

“Early in the year [playoffs] often feel like a pipe dream a little bit,” said Matt Martin after Saturday's morning skate. “Obviously expectations weren’t very high for our team but I think we always believed in ourselves; it was just about playing the right way. Once you buy into playing within the right structure, you can see we’re starting to play some better hockey.”

After Thursday’s 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils, head coach Mike Babcock mentioned how the team was embracing its “blueprint,” the one shepherding them towards a postseason berth no one would have fervently predicted in October.

“Understanding how you’re supposed to play and what you have to do to be successful each and every night I think is important,” Babcock said. “It takes some time with each group, because it’s different for each group. When you have some success, it makes it easier for people to believe in.”

It was the success quota – or lack therefore – early on that has Toronto entrenched in an ever-tightening Eastern Conference playoff race. The Boston Bruins and New York Islanders, who play each other Saturday, are three points back of them; Tampa Bay is only four points back. But to lament the points lost in 10 games this season to blown third period leads, or points that slipped away with the inexperience of a roster hosting up to nine rookies at once, would be futile; what isn’t is what Toronto can do with what they’ve learned.

“You get put in situations where [knowing how to win] matters. Like where a guy should chip the puck out but tries to make a play and it ends up in our net,” said Martin. “We were dropping games like that early on. And sure, you’d like to have those points back now, but you hope having gone through those experiences and to be applying those lessons now will pay dividends down the stretch.”

Their next chance to find out is against a Sabres team that is similarly young and up-and-coming, one that has had a head start on its own rebuild, but that is currently 13 points back of the Maple Leafs in the standings. After winning only two of their previous 19 games in Buffalo prior to the season’s first matchup on Nov. 3, Toronto started a potential new chapter in the rivalry by stealing a 2-1 victory on the back of Frederik Andersen’s 41-save performance.

That type of tight-checking, one-goal contest has been a challenge for Toronto to win all season. In the weeks that followed the November tilt, the Maple Leafs didn’t win another one-goal game in regulation until Jan. 17, when they also beat the Sabres. But Toronto has grown in that respect as well - each of the Maple Leafs’ last four games has been within a goal until the final five minutes, and Toronto has emerged 3-0-1.

“We’ve shown in recent games we know what it takes in order to win but there’s often times where you do lots of good things and you don’t end up winning,” said Morgan Rielly. “That doesn’t mean you don’t know how, it just means things didn’t go your way. We’re just more comfortable in those situations now and we know how to handle it better.”

“We don’t tighten up [anymore],” added Nazem Kadri. “We have that confidence in ourselves to be able to close games out. That just speaks volumes [about us] because down the stretch you are going to be playing in those one, two goals and you have to learn how to close them out.”

They can start with the Sabres, who would like nothing more than to spoil Toronto’s momentum with a victory in what will be a blue-and-white heavy KeyBank Center. And the Maple Leafs can't afford any letdowns - until they earn a coveted ‘X’ next to their name, the only choice is treating every game like it’s their last.

“You work so hard to achieve a goal and you set a goal at the start of the season and as it [goes on] you realize its closer within reach,” Kadri said. “It’s exciting, and very motivating as well and [gives us] extra incentive to put our foot down on the gas.”

Morning skate notes:

• Josh Leivo made his return to the Maple Leafs lineup on Thursday after a 10-game absence and even tallied a goal in the first period, but he’s now dealing with an undisclosed injury and will not play on Saturday. Nikita Soshnikov is also still banged up from Monday’s game against Boston, so Ben Smith will slot back onto the fourth line, this time as a right wing, for his first action in 12 games.

• Kadri has had some tumultuous seasons with the Maple Leafs, but he’s now in the midst of his best career as a pro (30 goals, 25 assists) and will skate in his 400th NHL game on Saturday night. While impressed with what Kadri has been able to do this season, Babcock said he still sees levels for the veteran to reach, and Kadri agreed he still wants to become a more complete player on both sides of the puck. More than anything, he’s grateful for the turnover within Toronto’s organization that has helped elevate his game the last two years. “I had the work ethic to persevere through some tough times, and my teammates have been great and super supportive of me from day one, he said. “Obviously new management and the protection we’ve had and not leaving you out to dry so to speak like that’s maybe happened early in my career. [And] the coaching staff has been unbelievable and getting me in the right direction.”