Sabres Lose Game, Connolly

Before Fridays game against Toronto, Buffalo Sabres general manager Darcy Regier announced that center Tim Connolly will have season-ending surgery to repair a nagging bone spur in his hip. The surgery will be performed Monday. Things did not get much better for Buffalo from there. Jason Blake registered a goal and an assist, as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Buffalo Sabres, 4-1, at HSBC Arena. Anton Stralman and Matt Stajan also posted a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs, who have won four of their last five games. Vesa Toskala made 35 saves for his 31st win of the season. Thomas Vanek tallied the lone goal for the Sabres, who had won three straight coming in. Ryan Miller allowed four goals on 24 shots in defeat. "Its disappointing," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said about the loss. "I think we definitely had our opportunities. We had some good looks. They blocked a lot of shots on us. Toskala made a few good saves and then they blocked a lot of shots. You put your best players out there and theyve got to make plays. We had a couple near misses, we had them down and out a couple of times and missed a couple. It was probably the difference in the game." Buffalo remains two points back of idle Boston for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Philadelphia edged New York in a shootout to move into the seventh spot. Toronto trails the Bruins by five points for the Easts final postseason seed. The visitors carried a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. Blake opened the scoring on his third shot of the game when he accepted a drop pass from Alex Steen in the slot and fired the puck behind Miller at the 8:39 mark. "It was just a good play," Blake said about his goal. "It was a nice pass by (Steen). I looked up and I shot it. Its nice to get that first goal, its nice to get a goal. We didnt look back from there." While on a power play, Darcy Tucker jammed in a rebound at the right side of the net to make it 2-0 with 7:45 remaining. Buffalo made it a one-goal game 31 seconds into the second period, as Vanek redirected Derek Roys shot from the point in behind Toskala for his team- leading 32nd goal of the season and 16th on the power play. Stralmans first NHL marker restored a two-goal cushion at 8:27. Dominic Moore won the draw cleanly and slipped it back to Stralman. The rookie defenseman then shifted to the right point and snapped a soft wrister that made its way through bodies and beat Miller high on the short side. Stajan lit the lamp with 6:52 remaining in the third period to put the game out of reach. Game Notes Vaneks tally was the 100th of his NHL career...The Leafs played their third straight contest with captain and leading scorer Mats Sundin, who is sidelined with a groin injury.