Auston Matthews and John Tavares each scored a goal and added an assist, and the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs held on to defeat the Buffalo Sabres 4-2 on Wednesday night.

Mitch Marner and Zach Hyman also scored for the Maple Leafs, who won for only the second time in six games.

Casey Mittelstadt and Alexander Nylander scored for the Sabres, who have lost eight of their past nine games (1-7-1).

Garret Sparks made 22 saves for the Maple Leafs, who swept the four-game season series between the teams.

Carter Hutton was much busier, stopping 42 of 45 shots in Buffalo's goal.

The Maple Leafs allowed the opening goal for the sixth straight game when Mittelstadt scored his 11th this season on a power play at 15:04 of the first period. Mittelstadt fired from a sharp angle on his own rebound off the back boards after he had deflected Rasmus Dahlin's point shot. Hyman was serving a hooking penalty.

The Maple Leafs had a 19-7 advantage in shots on goal in the first period, forcing Hutton to make some difficult saves.

Sparks, for his part, stopped a short-handed attempt by Buffalo's Johan Larsson.

Matthews tied the game at 1:43 of the second period with his 35th goal when the puck deflected off his skate on a backhand pass to the front of the net by Andreas Johnsson.

Tavares scored his 41st goal this season at 18:32 of the second, giving Toronto a 2-1 lead. William Nylander's shot hit the crossbar, bounced out and off defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen directly to Tavares, who was in front of the net for the backhand.

The Maple Leafs had a 38-15 advantage in shots on goal after 40 minutes.

Marner notched his 25th of the season just 22 seconds into the third period on a wrist shot as he cut across the slot.

Nylander, brother of Toronto's William Nylander, scored his first goal of the season from just above the right circle, converting a pass from the corner by Vladimir Sobotka at 5:37 of the third.

Hyman scored his 18th goal of the season into an empty net at 19:27 of the third.

--Field Level Media