TORONTO—On April 11th 2015, things didn’t look promising for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Buffalo Sabres. Separated by a 100-mile stretch along the Queen Elizabeth Way, the two organizations lost their final game of the 2014-15 season and finished 27th and 30th in the league respectively. Without a ton of high-level prospects to provide hope for the future, the idea of a renewed Leafs-Sabres rivalry from the late 90’s seemed impossible.
In the span of just over a week, fortunes turned as the Leafs hired Mike Babcock and the Sabres brought on Dan Bylsma to be their head coaches for the foreseeable future.