TORONTO -- The Buffalo Sabres didn't have the start they wanted Monday night at Air Canada Centre, but they managed to capitalize on a pair of Maple Leafs turnovers before edging Toronto 4-3 in a shootout.

Trailing 3-1 heading into the third period, the Sabres got goals from Jack Eichel and Evander Kane to tie the game. Sam Reinhart netted the shootout winner as the Sabres improved to 2-0-0 against the Maple Leafs this season.

"I won't say we took them lightly, we definitely came out flat though," said Kane, who finished with a goal and an assist in the win. "We weren't aggressive on the forecheck like we planned to be, especially in the first period there and they took advantage of that. We got outworked."

Mark Pysyk had the other goal for Buffalo (27-31-9), while Chad Johnson made 30 saves to improve to 3-0-1 all-time against Toronto.

The Leafs, who held 2-0 and 3-1 leads, got goals from Leo Komarov, Brad Boyes and Zach Hyman. Garret Sparks stopped 24 shots in the loss.

Toronto (21-33-11) lost its sixth straight and fell to 1-8-2 in its past 11.

"This was a game we were in total control of," Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "I thought we had the puck more. I thought we did more good things. And we still found a way not to get the points we wanted. That part's disappointing. To give up the lead there, there was no reason to give up the lead.

"We've got lots of kids in the lineup, but it wasn't our kids that made mistakes tonight."

Eichel pulled the Sabres within one at 7:28 of the third period, putting home a Matt Moulson feed after Jake Gardiner was unable to clear the puck.

"Puck came right to (Moulson), and it shows his hockey IQ, his hockey sense, he just leaves it for me in a great area where I can just tuck it to the net," Eichel said. "It's nice that you score your 20th with the guy that lets you live in his house assisting on it."

Reinhart picked the pocket of Morgan Rielly to set up Kane for his 19th at 10:41 of the third. Reinhart added the winner in the third round of the shootout as Buffalo improved to just 2-6 in the tiebreaking competitions this season.

Buffalo's top line of Kane, Eichel and Reinhart finished the night with two goals and three assists.

"Our whole team was not real solid tonight with the puck, a step behind their speed and a step behind their skill tonight, and we salvaged it by coming out and getting those goals and those guys stepping up the way they need to for us," Buffalo coach Dan Bylsma said. "It is good to see them step out in the third and come through for us."

Komarov opened the scoring 25 seconds in, putting home a feed from Nikita Soshnikov for his team-leading 19th goal of the season.

Boyes gave Toronto a 2-0 lead on a power play at 11:05 of the opening period, as his pass attempt hit the skate of Sabres defenseman Jake McCabe and went past Johnson for his eighth of the season.

Kane set up Pysyk to get the Sabres on the board at 16:23 of the second. Pysyk initially directed the pass on goal with his skate, but he put home his own rebound for his first goal of the season. The play was reviewed and deemed a good goal as it just barely crossed the goal line.

Hyman restored the Leafs' two-goal lead with 18.2 seconds remaining in the second as he put home his own rebound for his first career NHL goal.

"We play well throughout the majority of the game but we have little lapses and allow them to get back in the game, and we can't seem to recover after," Leafs center Nazem Kadri said. "A shootout loss, you can't get too low; when you win them, you can't get too high."

The two clubs meet again March 19 and March 31 to conclude the season series.

NOTES: LW Milan Michalek (fractured finger) made his Maple Leafs debut on Monday. The 31-year-old was acquired from the Ottawa Senators as part of the Dion Phaneuf trade on Feb. 9. ... RW Brad Boyes retuned to the Maple Leafs' lineup after missing two games with an upper-body injury. ... Toronto RW P.A. Parenteau missed his fifth game due to muscle spasms. ... Buffalo D Cody Franson missed his eighth game due to a neck injury. ... The Sabres return home to play the New York Rangers on Tuesday. ... Toronto concludes its four-game homestand Wednesday against the New York Islanders.