O'Reilly's hat trick, Marner's career-high 5 assists power Maple Leafs over Sabres

Newly acquired centre Ryan O'Reilly scored twice on Toronto's first two shots on net and added an empty-net goal in the Maple Leafs' 6-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.

Playing his third game in four nights since being traded to Toronto by St. Louis, O'Reilly scored 37 seconds apart in an opening period the Maple Leafs led 4-0 on goals scored in a span of 8:18. O'Reilly added two assists and sealed the win with the first five-point outing of his career by scoring into an empty net with 1:10 remaining — and after the Sabres scored three times to cut Toronto's lead to 5-3.

O'Reilly's new linemates got in on the fun, with captain John Tavares scoring and adding three assists, and Mitchell Marner setting up five goals.

Ilya Samsonov, who didn't face his first shot until halfway through the first period, finished with 29 saves. He stopped the first 22 shots he faced before getting beaten three times in the final 14:48.

Alex Tuch, with the 100th goal of his career, Jack Quinn and Jeff Skinner scored for Buffalo in a game the Sabres trailed 5-0 through two periods.

Buffalo's Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed four goals on 10 shots before being yanked after getting beaten on the short side by Bunting 12:09 in. Struggling in his bid to win a three-way goalie competition, Luukonen has allowed 19 goals in dropping to 1-3-1 in his last five starts. He was replaced by Craig Anderson, who finished allowing one goal on 18 shots.

O'Reilly's offensive outburst came in a homecoming for the two-way centre, who spent two seasons playing for the Sabres before being traded to St. Louis in July 2018.

The playoff MVP for the 2019 Stanley Cup-winning Blues opened the scoring 3:51 in by snapping in Marner's centring pass into the open