‘Momentum, man’: Maple Leafs rally to feed Sabers 10th straight loss

They will settle for a timely two and a half against a fragile foe.

Because that’s all the home team needed on a sleepy, sluggish Sunday night to flip the script on a Buffalo Sabers team free-falling into the shadow of the mighty NFL Bills.

Showing no early signs of urgency in front of their farm-system goalie or to avenge Saturday night’s mistakes, the Maple Leafs were down 2-zip before registering a shot on the visitors’ net.

They trailed 3-1 past the halfway point.

All signs pointed to Timbit’s break skaters getting the loudest cheer of the night.

But alas, it’s the sad Sabres, losers of 10 straight (three in overtime), without a tax credit or a palm tree or a savior in sight.

“I’m almost at a loss for words. I’m going to fix this,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said.

“This is as tough a fix as I’ve been around, but it’s up to me to get these guys in the right spot to win a hockey game. Nobody else. Just me.”

And it’s the Maple Leafs, who for all their offensive problems of late, are still putting on high-end game-breakers that don’t need many dominant shifts to turn a result upside down.

So what if they didn’t start either of the first two periods on time?

The Leafs can smash turbo mode for a stretch and rally for a 5-3 comeback win against a fragile rival.

“Momentum, man,” Max Domi said. “It’s the hockey game, right?”

In the span of 2:31, during their come-to-life moment in period 2, Nick Robertson snipped one after four healthy scratches; hard-working John Tavares scored twice; and Toronto’s inconsistent power play looked threatening again, cashing in on both ends of the weekend’s back-to-back.

“We’re just looking for a good 60 minutes,” defender/realist Jake McCabe had said a few hours before the puck dropped. “We haven’t really put together a 60-minute hockey game in a while that we’ve been proud of.”

Well, they’re still looking.

But they cashed in a few layup points and got plenty of encouragement from their first five-goal effort in December and some production from several lines.

Domi, moved to center, snapped both his 27-game goal drought and 16-game assist drought. Domi’s celebration spoke volumes, but the player downplayed the goal’s significance after the game.

“It feels good, believe me,” Berube said. “I mean, he’s not happy that he hasn’t produced or scored. And we need him. But we need him to play the style of the game that he played tonight. That’s the difference for me .

Berube’s new third line of Bobby McMann-Domi-Robertson was deadly and fast.

“The three of us as a line talked and we decided that our strength is speed and skating,” Domi explained. “So all three of us tried to do it to the best of our ability. And then both of those guys were absolutely flying tonight.”

The recalled Dennis Hildeby settled down after a shaky start to seal victory in what would have been the start for the injured Anthony Stolarz – and was confident enough to take a stab at an empty net in just his third ever start.

And the Maple Leafs as a whole followed the second period with a diligent and detailed hard-check final shot, not to waste the fateful two and a half minutes.

Tavares hit a half-court insurance goal late for three the natural way.

The better team eventually emerged and won.

“It was a great third period. You go out there and just check and don’t give them much,” praised Berube. “Our leaders stepped up and really did a good job tonight.”

The team did enough to earn their day off Monday, but a more complete effort will be imperative Wednesday in Dallas.

• McMann has looked good since returning from his 17-day layoff with a sore groin.

The power forward led all skaters with five shots on net Saturday in Detroit and followed that up with a pair of assists and a plus-3 rating Sunday.

• In a battle of AHL goalies, Buffalo recalled Devon Levi for his first NHL start in a month.

With the rest of the club flying in from Washington on a back-to-back and not checking into a Toronto hotel until a fresher body in the net.

Ruff was noncommittal about the prospect of Levi staying up in the big club.

“Played a heck of a game for us,” Ruff said of the 22-year-old’s 36-save performance.

The defender reflects honestly on the highs and lows of life under the microscope and describes the fallout from his winner in overtime in an own goal for the Buffalo Sabers early in his final season for Toronto:

“They turned on me with a dime,” McCabe tells the podcast. “Winning goal in overtime on my own team.”

He will always remember Toronto Sun front page headline (“Bryan McKlutz”) and can still hear the boos every time he touched the puck for a breakout in 2007-08.

“It was misery. It was draining the life out of me. My house was being gutted. I was getting hate mail,” McCabe says. “It was the hardest year of my life.”

The power-play bomber became so depressed that he questioned whether he wanted to play hockey again — only to be rejuvenated in Florida and out of the spotlight.

“I had to get out of here just to save my life. It wasn’t fun anymore,” McCabe says. “That being said, I wouldn’t trade my time in Toronto for anything.

“I think everyone should play in a hockey market like that. It’s a special thing.”

• Berube turned William Nylander onto the top line of Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner midway through the game. (That’s $35.9 million in forwards that will blow you away.)

Matthew Knies joined John Tavares and Max Pacioretty’s second unit, which the coach used to match up against Tage Thompson’s heavy line and free up Matthews’ group.

“I wanted to loosen those guys up a little bit and give them some different looks,” Berube said. “And it worked.”

• Stolarz’s “day-to-day” injury will keep him out for at least a week.

The starter was placed on retroactive IR for the lower-body injury he suffered Thursday against the Ducks.

Berube did not want to comment on the goalkeeper’s status, so the next update is expected on Tuesday.

Joseph Woll was scheduled to start Wednesday in Dallas.