The Buffalo Sabres found a lot less fight in the Toronto Maple Leafs than in the Ottawa Senators.

Jochen Hecht had two goals and one assist as the visiting Sabres cruised to a 6-1 victory over the Maple Leafs before a crowd of 19,588 at the Air Canada Centre on Tuesday.

Jochen Hecht, middle, celebrates a goal as Bryan McCabe skates away.
(Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Buffalo was coming off a fight-filled, home-and-home series split with Ottawa in which Sabres captain Chris Drury sustained a concussion.

"When they're clicking on all cylinders the way they were tonight, they're a tough team to play against," Maple Leafs forward John Pohl said.

Rookie Clarke MacArthur contributed one goal and two assists against Toronto, giving him five points in seven NHL games.

Jason Pominville and Derek Roy had a goal and assist apiece, while rookie Drew Stafford also scored for the Sabres (42-16-5), who were minus eight injured regulars.

"That is the frustrating part," Maple Leafs defenceman Bryan McCabe said. "They had a lot of guys out, so it should have been a night where we could dominate.

"But it wasn't. They outworked us, got some bounces and we couldn't score."

"There's some guys in our dressing room who have really stepped up their play," Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff explained.

Thomas Vanek added two assists in support of Ryan Miller, who made 27 saves.

"I was really impressed with the way we skated," Miller said. "It was real fun to watch the boys ramp it up out there."

Buffalo has won seven of its last nine games and is a terrific 20-9-2 on the road this season.

Alexei Ponikarovsky tallied the lone goal for the Maple Leafs (30-25-9), who were playing their third game in four nights.

"We were just dragging out butts all over the ice, that's the bottom line," Maple Leafs head coach Paul Maurice said. "We were a fatigued hockey team tonight, no doubt about that."

Raycroft yanked again

Andrew Raycroft was yanked for the second straight start, allowing four goals on 11 shots before giving way to Jean-Sebastien Aubin in the third period.

"He has been solid for us," Maurice said of Raycroft.

"I'm not going to say he was bad in that game. But the numbers on the board say he was."

Buffalo opened the scoring 14:02 into the contest as Pominville lifted a rebound over Raycroft's blocker for his 26th goal of the season.

Stafford then scored his fourth on a wraparound 4:55 into the second period and Roy snapped in a rebound for his 12th to make it 3-0 at the 11:59 mark.

After Ponikarovsky replied with his 17th on a wrist shot from the slot to cut the deficit to 3-1, Hecht was credited with his 15th when Toni Lydman's point shot struck him en route to the back of the net with 92 seconds left in the period.

Hecht then skated in from the side boards and beat Aubin high to the glove side 5:21 into the third period, giving him a pair of goals on the night and 16 overall.

MacArthur's second completed the scoring with 6:11 remaining.

NHL trade deadline

The Maple Leafs acquired forward Yanic Perreault and a fifth-round draft pick from the Phoenix Coyotes for defenceman Brendan Bell and a second-round pick at the NHL trade deadline.

Toronto also inked forward Darcy Tucker to a four-year contract extension reportedly worth $12 million US.

The Sabres traded goaltender Martin Biron to the Philadelphia Flyers for a second-rounder, acquired netminder Ty Conklin from the Columbus Blue Jackets for a fifth-rounder and rearguard Mikko Lehtonen from the Nashville Predators for a fourth-rounder.

They also acquired forward Dainius Zubrus and defenceman Tim Helbling from the Washington Capitals in return for forward Jiri Novotny and a first-rounder.

With files from Sports Network