Marchenko’s Hat Trick Night Still Ends in Overtime Loss

Owen Power scored at 3:14 of overtime as the Buffalo Sabres rallied past the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 on Thursday at Scotiabank Arena. Kirill Marchenko had a hat trick in his 300th NHL game, and Toronto still lost. John Tavares left at 2:32 of the third after a collision with Josh Norris and did not return.

Jack Quinn finished with two goals and two assists, including the overtime feed, and Marchenko said the winner was on him.

Marchenko Scored Three and Still Called It a Mistake

The first one was the clip Toronto will keep. Tavares found him at the side of the net on the power play, and Marchenko curled off the goal line and flipped the puck between his legs over Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s glove for a 2-1 lead. He scored again after Tavares poked a puck loose along the wall, a high shot from the left circle, then one-timed a pass from Colton Sissons in the slot, with Easton Cowan also on the play, to finish it.

That was the fifth hat trick of his NHL career and his first as a Maple Leaf, and it made the score 4-2 after two periods. He had scored once in a Toronto sweater before Thursday. He has four goals this season and eight points (four goals, four assists) during a six-game streak.

I will remember this night for sure but a win is more important and I’m kind of frustrated because it was my mistake in overtime. I want to win games more and more and I just learn from that.

Kirill Marchenko, Maple Leafs forward, after the 5-4 overtime loss

The club account posted the third goal while Toronto still led 4-2.

CHA CHENKO 🎰 pic.twitter.com/NZtqqVebjg

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) October 16, 2026

The Winger Toronto Bought With Matthew Knies

Toronto acquired Marchenko, Miles Wood, and goaltender Elvis Merzlikins from the Columbus Blue Jackets on September 28, hours before opening-night rosters were due. Columbus received Knies, Steven Lorentz, defenseman Emil Andrae, and a 2027 second-round pick, and kept 18 percent of Merzlikins’ salary. Marchenko then signed a six-year, $75 million contract that starts next season at a $12.5 million average annual value.

WHAT TORONTO AND COLUMBUS SWAPPED

He is 26. Last season with Columbus he had 27 goals and 40 assists in 76 games, and he has led the Blue Jackets in goals in each of the past three seasons. Through 292 NHL games, all with Columbus, he had 102 goals and 106 assists. This was game 300. He still has one year left on the three-year, $11.55 million deal he signed in July 2024, a $3.85 million cap hit, and he could have been a restricted free agent next summer.

Knies, 23, had 23 goals and 43 assists in 79 games last season and is on a six-year, $46.5 million contract ($7.75 million AAV) he signed with Toronto on July 1, 2025. He said he was a little shocked by the timing, coming home from practice with an opener the next night.

I think the most simple way I can put it is there’s a lot of good players in the NHL, (but) very few that can impact winning and can singlehandedly dictate the outcome of games. We believe Kirill is one of these players for us. You’ve got to give up quality to get quality, and we gave up some quality people and quality players.

John Chayka, Maple Leafs general manager, on the Marchenko trade

For two periods, that is what it looked like. Then Power went around him in overtime.

Jack Quinn’s Gordie Howe Night Carried Buffalo

Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff called it the best game he has seen Quinn play, all around, and gave him the Gordie Howe hat trick after a second-period fight with Troy Stecher. Quinn had already scored twice. Four points matches his single-game career high. He has eight points this season, four goals and four assists.

QUINN’S NIGHT IN TORONTO

• Two goals: He tied the game 1-1 in the first and 2-2 in the second.
• Two assists: He set up Dennis Gilbert’s cut into 4-3 and the overtime winner.
• The fight: A tussle with Stecher that Ruff counted toward the Gordie Howe hat trick.
• The volume: Four points, plus two posts Ruff mentioned after the game.

Toronto outshot Buffalo 15-8 in the first period and still needed a recovery after Nick Blankenburg over-skated a puck behind his own net. Zach Benson got there, slid it in front, and Quinn put it through Sergei Bobrovsky’s pads. The second goal was a toe-drag around Jake McCabe off a cross-ice feed from Noah Ostlund, finished from the right circle. Mattias Samuelsson also had a helper on that one.

Auston Matthews had opened the scoring with his sixth goal of the season, a tap-in after Jack Roslovic, his third straight game with a goal. Matthews has a six-game point streak (six goals, seven assists). It was the first lead of a night Toronto could not keep.

Tavares Went Down and the Lead Went With Him

Tavares, 36, had two assists, both on Marchenko goals, when he tangled with Norris 2:32 into the third. He stayed down about 90 seconds, then skated off with a trainer. He played all 82 games last season and scored 31 goals with 71 points. Coach Jim Hiller had no update after the game.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The time: Tavares left at 2:32 of the third with Toronto up 4-2.
• The play: An awkward collision with Norris; he appeared to favor his left leg as he left.
• The exit: About 90 seconds on the ice, then to the dressing room under his own power with a trainer.
• The production: Two assists before he left, both on Marchenko goals.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• The diagnosis: Hiller gave no medical detail after the game.
• Saturday: No public word on whether Tavares can play when Toronto hosts the New York Islanders.

Toronto is already without defenseman Chris Tanev, week-to-week with an upper-body injury. He was hurt in a 6-3 win at Colorado, left at 11:08 of the first period, and went on injured reserve Monday, retroactive to October 10. He has one assist in six games and is tied for the team lead with 14 blocked shots. Hiller said Tanev is a good player and that the rest of the group has to help the others out.

Gavin McKenna, the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, played 6:36 and did not take a shift after 10:20 of the second period. Hiller called it a coach’s decision and said he probably should have used him early in the third. The 18-year-old watched the collapse, and the overtime, from the bench. Marchenko stayed on the ice. Power went around him.

What Buffalo Did After the 4-2 Deficit

Gilbert, on the third pair, started it with a shot through traffic from the blue line that beat Bobrovsky’s glove. It was his first goal as a Sabre, in his 27th game with the club, and his first for any team since December 31, 2023. Samuelsson tied it from the high slot, over the blocker, off a pass from Tage Thompson. Buffalo has now come back from a two-goal third-period deficit three times this season. Power later made it a win.

HOW THE 5-4 WAS SCORED

Samuelsson said Buffalo does not want to chase like that, and that there is no quit, and that a night like this is good for morale if the group also learns to play with a lead. The Sabres were coming off a shootout loss in Montreal. Rasmus Dahlin missed a second straight game with an upper-body injury. Jiri Kulich sat after he did not feel well at the morning skate; tests were negative and Ruff called him day to day.

Owen Power Slipped Past the Hat-Trick Scorer

Power took a saucer pass from Jack Quinn and buried a wrist shot from the top of the left face-off circle after he slipped past Marchenko. It was his second overtime winner of the season. He called it a little give-and-go, said his pass almost got picked off, and said Buffalo has done this before.

Hiller said Toronto has looked more passive in the last three or four games than it did on the first homestand, and that the group has to be better in its own zone. Bobrovsky, who made 29 saves, said you either win or you have a lesson to learn, and that this was a good lesson.

THE NET AND THE RECORD

• Luukkonen: Stopped 26 of 30 shots for the win.
• Bobrovsky: Made 29 saves in the loss.
• Buffalo: 4-3-1, and 2-2-1 in its past five.
• Toronto: 3-3-2, and 2-1-2 in its past five.

Marchenko’s own read of overtime matches the tape. Power was his man, and Power scored.

Montreal Is Next for Buffalo, the Islanders for Toronto

Norris left at 2:41 of overtime after he fell awkwardly over Oliver Ekman-Larsson and did not return. Ruff said after the game that Norris is in concussion protocol. Dahlin is 50/50 for Saturday’s 7 p.m. game at the Montreal Canadiens, Ruff said Thursday morning. Kulich is day to day.

The Maple Leafs host the New York Islanders on Saturday at Scotiabank Arena. Hiller had no update on Tavares. Tanev remains week-to-week. McKenna’s next look is a conversation Hiller already said he needs to have.

Buffalo leaves Toronto with the extra point and with Norris in protocol. Toronto leaves the same building with a hat trick on the scoresheet, a 4-2 lead that did not last, and no public word on the 36-year-old who set up two of those three goals.