Frederik Andersen was tested and the Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender did enough to hold his team to success.

" He offered us a chance to win, specifically in the 3rd period, where we needed to defend" Toronto Maple Leafs forward John Tavares said. "He made some big saves, even at the end of the 2nd [period], too. That's why he's one of the very best goalies in the league."

Tavares scored his 10th objective of the season at 1:45 of overtime and chose up his 400th NHL assist while Andersen made 29 saves as the Maple Leafs beat the Buffalo Sabres 2-1 at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

Andersen started in goal in the back half of a home-and-home series, breaking the trend from just recently fired head coach Mike Babcock of starting Andersen in the very first game of the sequence.

"It was a little different due to the fact that we didn't have a skate yesterday since of the early game," Andersen said of the modification. "I was able to skate a little today and obviously, we had more of an unwinded early morning."

VIEW "It was a little various because we didn't have a skate yesterday because of the early game," Andersen said of the modification. The Maple Leafs outshot the Sabres 11-8 in the opening duration. Andersen made a glove save off Connor Sheary at 11:50."That was fantastic, it kind of conserved me since that was my guy," Nylander said of Andersen's save on Sheary. Later in the period, Jeff Skinner had a possibility from the slot while Andersen lost control of his stick, but Andersen made the save at 18:31.