Sabres vs. Maple Leafs: Owen Power's Overtime Winner Spoils Kirill Marchenko's 300th-Game Hat Trick

Kirill Marchenko spent his 300th NHL game putting together the kind of night players frame and hang in the basement. Three goals, one of them between his legs, and a two-goal lead heading into the third at Scotiabank Arena. Then Owen Power slipped past him in overtime, took a saucer pass from Jack Quinn and ruined the souvenir.

Power's shot from the top of the left circle at 3:14 of overtime gave the Buffalo Sabres a 5-4 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night. Buffalo trailed 4-2 after two periods and scored twice in a span of 2:11 in the third to force the extra session. Quinn had two goals and two assists, and the Sabres turned Marchenko's hat trick into a footnote.

Marchenko Steals the Show for 40 Minutes

Auston Matthews set the tone 2:24 in, snagging a clearing attempt out of the air to keep the play alive, giving the puck to Jack Roslovic and finishing the give-and-go at the top of the crease. Matthews has now scored in three straight games, and per NHL.com, his point streak is up to six games.

Quinn answered a little over a minute later, burying a pass from Zach Benson after Nick Blankenburg overskated a loose puck behind the Toronto net. Then Marchenko took over. At 13:10 of the first, on a power play, John Tavares found him beside the net, and Marchenko swung out from the goal line and went between his own legs, lifting the puck over Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen's glove. That is not a hockey play. That is a highlight reel auditioning for a sneaker commercial.

Quinn tied it again at 2:41 of the second, accepting Noah Ostlund's cross-ice delivery and toe-dragging Jake McCabe out of position before firing from the right circle. Marchenko responded with two more. Tavares poked a puck loose along the wall for Marchenko's second at 11:13, and a one-timer off a Colton Sissons feed from behind the net completed the hat trick at 16:51.

According to the AP, Marchenko had scored only once for Toronto since being acquired from Columbus on Sept. 28. This was his fifth career hat trick and his first as a Leaf.

Tavares Goes Down, Buffalo Wakes Up

The game flipped early in the third, and not because of anything on the scoreboard. Tavares, who had two assists, collided with Buffalo forward Josh Norris and left at 2:32 of the period, appearing to favor his left leg on the way off, according to the AP. With Tavares gone from the second line, the Leafs started leaking.

Dennis Gilbert cut it to 4-3 at 10:05 with a point shot that threaded the traffic and beat Sergei Bobrovsky glove side. Just over two minutes later, at 12:16, Mattias Samuelsson, set up by Tage Thompson, lifted one over Bobrovsky's blocker from the high slot. Tie game.

"I would say it seems like (we have been more passive) in the last three or four games than the first home stretch," Leafs coach Jim Hiller said. "We have to be better (in the defensive zone), there's no question."

In overtime, Power and Quinn worked a quick give-and-go through the neutral zone. Power slipped past Marchenko to get open, Quinn found him, and that was that. "I think my pass almost got picked off," Power said. "I was lucky to get it by and then I was in (alone)."

Marchenko, to his credit, owned it. "I will remember this night for sure but a win is more important and I'm kind of frustrated because it was my mistake in overtime," he said.

Quinn Was Everywhere

Quinn's line was stuffed: two goals, two assists, a plus-4 rating and a second-period fight with Troy Stecher. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff sounded genuinely impressed. "It's the best game I've seen him play," Ruff said. "Like, all around. Four points, he had a couple goal posts, scored a couple goals."

Samuelsson added a goal and an assist while logging 28:24, and Power played 28:01. Ostlund and Benson each had two assists. Luukkonen made 26 saves on 30 shots, while Bobrovsky stopped 30 of 35.

"We don't want to be down like that but there's no quit," Samuelsson said. "Good for morale, good for confidence but again, let's try to play with a lead sometimes, too."

The Comeback in Numbers

• 2G, 2A: Quinn's line, with points on Buffalo's first goal, the second-period equalizer, Gilbert's third-period goal and the winner.
• 35-30: Buffalo's edge in shots on goal.
• 300: Career NHL games for Marchenko, who marked the occasion with his fifth career hat trick.
• 4: Shots Buffalo blocked all night, compared with 10 for Toronto, a reminder of how wide open this one was.
• 0-for-2: Buffalo's power play. All five Sabres goals came at even strength.

Momentum in Buffalo, Questions in Toronto

Buffalo improves to 4-3-1 with nine points and is 2-2-1 in its past five. The Sabres were coming off a shootout loss in Montreal two nights earlier and have now rallied from a two-goal third-period hole. "We did it a lot last year, coming from behind, so I think the more you're able to do it, the more confident you get," Power said. Buffalo played without defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, who missed his second straight game, and Norris left at 2:41 of overtime after falling awkwardly; Ruff said Norris is in concussion protocol. The Sabres are at Montreal on Saturday.

Toronto falls to 3-3-2 with eight points and is 2-1-2 in its past five. There is also a storyline worth watching: Gavin McKenna, the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, played only 6:36 and sat after 10:20 of the second period, which Hiller called a coach's decision. Hiller had no update on Tavares after the game. The Leafs host the New York Islanders on Saturday.

A Milestone Night With No Happy Ending

Marchenko did everything a guy can do in a milestone game except walk out with the win. Hockey is weird like that: one night you are pulling off a between-the-legs goal that belongs in a video game, and the next moment you are watching a defenseman skate past you for the overtime winner. Buffalo will take the two points. Marchenko will take the memories, plus a few nights of replaying overtime in his head.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press; postgame quotes and notes as reported by NHL.com.