Just two days after the Buffalo Sabres were hammered 9-4 by the Columbus Blue Jackets, the team paid it forward by hanging the same amount of goals on the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night.

The Sabres had their way with the Leafs in front of the home crowd, dismantling their Atlantic Division rivals 9-3 at the KeyBank Center in Western New York.

Obviously, Toronto was not at all happy with how their second-to-last game before the Christmas break unfolded.

“A tough night for everyone,” Auston Matthews admitted after scoring one of his team's three goals, per The Toronto Sun's Lance Hornby. “Embarrassment is the right word to use.”

“Ugly from top to bottom,” echoed captain John Tavares, who was held off the scoresheet over 17:47 time on ice.

It was truly a shocking final; watching the Sabres go from giving up nine to scoring nine in a span of two days is not something you see every day in the National Hockey League.

Leafs stunned by Sabres

While it was a nightmare for the Maple Leafs, it was a huge bounce back game for a Sabres team that has struggled to gain any sort of meaningful momentum in 2023-24. Buffalo is hoping Thursday night was the start of a hot streak.

“We took last game really personally, I think, on a bunch of different levels,” admitted Alex Tuch, who potted four assists. “I thought we owed one to ourselves, we owed one to the coaching staff.”

Just days after Sabres fans were chanting for head coach Don Granato to be fired, he had his team hungry for a win on Thursday.

“We came out ready to go,” the bench boss asserted. “I thought we were able to set a high bar for ourselves. That is a significant factor.”

The Sabres have won consecutive games just once this season, and will be looking to improve on that against the Rangers in New York on Saturday. The Leafs fell to 16-8-6 with the loss, but still remain in second place in the Atlantic Division and just six points back of the Boston Bruins for the division lead.

They'll look for better fortune in Ohio against the Blue Jackets in their last game before Christmas.