John Tavares scored his 499th NHL goal 1:28 into overtime on a breakaway, securing a 4-3 victory for the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Buffalo Sabres at Scotiabank Arena. The win ended a three-game skid for Toronto following a 5-3 loss to Buffalo the previous night. Tage Thompson scored twice for the Sabres in the tight contest.
The Maple Leafs hosted the Sabres in the second game of a back-to-back home-and-home series on October 25, 2025. Buffalo entered with momentum, having won four of their last five games, while Toronto sought to snap a recent slump.
In the first period, Tage Thompson opened the scoring at 13:40, tipping a cross-ice pass from Jiri Kulich past Cayden Primeau for a 1-0 Sabres lead. Nicholas Robertson tied it at 18:33, converting a pass from Easton Cowan in the slot to make it 1-1.
The second period saw Mattias Maccelli give Toronto the edge at 1:59, redirecting a pass from Tavares near the crease for a 2-1 lead. A potential Sabres equalizer by Kulich at 6:59 was disallowed after officials ruled Zach Benson interfered with Primeau in the crease. Bowen Byram leveled the score at 14:23 with a shot from the blue line through traffic, tying it 2-2.
The third period remained scoreless until Thompson's power-play goal at 7:06, where he spun and fired a loose puck between Primeau's pads for a 3-2 Buffalo advantage, assisted by Rasmus Dahlin. Dakota Joshua responded at 13:10, cutting across the slot to beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and knot the game at 3-3.
Overtime featured Sabres possession early, including a 2-on-1 chance, but Tavares capitalized on a loose puck, taking a lead pass from Matthew Knies for the breakaway winner over Luukkonen's blocker.
Primeau made 23 saves for Toronto (4-4-1), while Luukkonen stopped 18 shots in his season debut after missing eight games with a lower-body injury. The Sabres (4-4-1) had earned nine of 12 points in their prior six games. Toronto played without William Nylander, sidelined by a lower-body injury from the previous game.
