BUFFALO, N.Y. — Auston Matthews scored his 60th goal of the season to put the Toronto Maple Leafs up 3-0 on the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Saturday night, and you would have thought the game was being played north of the border.

Behind the Sabres’ bench, Leafs fans with shirts that spelled Matthews’ name held a gold balloon with the number 60. The noise the visiting fans were making for Matthews wasn’t just noticeable. It was among the loudest crowds Buffalo has had all season. “MVP” chants rang through the building.

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Maple Leafs goalie Ilya Samsonov, who was pulled after allowing five goals in a 9-3 loss the last time Toronto visited Buffalo, was spectacular this time around. He made 34 saves in a shutout and stopped all nine high-danger shots he faced, according to Natural Stat Trick. At one point in the third period, he stopped Dylan Cozens on a breakaway, then stopped Jeff Skinner on a point-blank chance and made another desperate save when Cozens tried to put the rebound in. Again, the Leafs fans voiced their support, filling the arena with, “Sammy, Sammy!” chants.

This isn’t a new phenomenon. Maple Leafs fans have been taking advantage of the cheaper ticket prices and making the short drive to Buffalo for years. But with each passing game, the ratio of Toronto fans to Buffalo fans is getting worse and worse for the home team. The Sabres have just seven announced sellout crowds this season. Two of those are games against the Leafs. The traveling Leafs fans used to make for a fun rivalry environment 20 years ago when the Sabres were among the best teams in the NHL. Now it makes the Sabres’ home arena feel like a road building, an indictment of what this franchise has become under Terry Pegula’s ownership.

“It’s something,” Cozens said. “Hopefully we can get that kind of support one day when we’re on the road. We’re going to be a great team like that and we’re going to build something special here and we hope to get some support on the road like that, too.

The Sabres need to earn that type of support at home first. Since Feb. 25, the only crowds of more than 16,000 in Buffalo have been when the Golden Knights, Edmonton Oilers and Maple Leafs were in town. They were booed off home ice after falling behind 5-0 in the first period against the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday. This team entered the season with promise but hasn’t delivered a product that has compelled fans to consistently fill the seats. The Sabres now have 75 points through 75 games and sit fourth from the bottom in the Eastern Conference.

“I know we have to earn it,” Cozens said. “We all know in this room we have to earn it. We understand it’s been a long time. We have to get that support back by being a good team and winning games. That’s what it comes down to. We can work as hard as we want but at the end of the day to get that support back we have to win games. It’s going to be a big summer for all of us. I know we have a lot to prove.”

It was a bit jarring to hear Cozens reference the summer before the calendar has even flipped to April. But that’s where the Sabres are with seven games left. On Saturday night, the Sabres missed the net 15 times. The power play, which came into the game ranked 27th in the league, went 0-for-6. A team that was a joy to watch offensively last season has become a shell of itself. Cozens knows he’s one of the main culprits. He scored 31 goals a year ago and has 15 this season.

“I don’t know if anything is going to help this year,” Cozens said. “I think I just have to have a good summer and trust my shot, know that I can score goals. It’s been a tough year for me in that department. Very frustrating.”

That frustration came out for the Sabres at the end of the game. With under a minute to play, Rasmus Dahlin and Alex Tuch sandwiched TJ Brodie near the boards. The Leafs took exception, and a scuffle broke out with Dahlin, Tuch, Owen Power and JJ Peterka all getting involved. By then, most of the outnumbered Sabres fans had already left the building.

Maybe the Sabres can carry some of that end-of-game energy into the final seven games of the season and remind themselves what they’re capable of before they leave town for the summer. Because right now, this is a team that has lost confidence and is entering the offseason with a lot of questions. The players have been inconsistent, particularly when it comes to competitiveness. The coaching staff has failed to fix problems and make adjustments to maximize the talent on the roster. And the roster has significant holes that general manager Kevyn Adams needs to address before next season.

This is no longer the early stages of a rebuild in Buffalo. This is year six for Dahlin, who wears a letter, year four for Cozens, year six for Tage Thompson. This is the third full season for coach Don Granato and the fourth full season for Adams. And it’s the 13th season of a playoff drought, the entirety of which has been under Pegula’s ownership. The scene on Saturday was a byproduct of all of it.

“Obviously we have to try to get the fans back in here to support us,” Tuch said. “It’s been tough. It has. For everybody involved, both sides. We’re going to continue to work. We’re going to try and earn it.”

(Photo: Ben Ludeman / NHLI via Getty Images)