2022 NHL Heritage Classic

1 2 3 Total Toronto Maple Leafs 0 2 0 2 Buffalo Sabres 0 2 3 5
Date	March 13, 2022
Venue	Tim Hortons Field
City	Hamilton, Ontario
Attendance	26,119
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The 2022 NHL Heritage Classic (branded as the 2022 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic for sponsorship reasons) was an outdoor regular season National Hockey League (NHL) game. The game, the sixth Heritage Classic, was held on March 13, 2022, between the Buffalo Sabres and the Toronto Maple Leafs at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario.^[1] After falling behind 2–1, the Sabres scored four unanswered goals to defeat the Maple Leafs, 5–2.

Background

The league announced the game on September 16, 2021. Hamilton, Ontario, was chosen due to its location in the Golden Horseshoe midway between Buffalo and Toronto. This was Toronto's first Heritage Classic appearance, and Buffalo became the first U.S. team to both compete in and host a Heritage Classic.^[1]

Game summary

Number in parentheses represents the player's total in goals or assists to that point of the season

Team rosters

Toronto Maple Leafs # Player Position 3 Justin Holl D 15 Alex Kerfoot C 16 Mitch Marner RW 19 Jason Spezza C 24 Wayne Simmonds RW 25 Ondřej Kaše RW 34 Auston Matthews (A) C 35 Petr Mrázek G 37 Timothy Liljegren D 38 Rasmus Sandin D 44 Morgan Rielly (A) D 46 Ilya Lyubushkin D 47 Pierre Engvall LW 50 Erik Källgren[1] G 58 Michael Bunting LW 64 David Kampf C 65 Ilya Mikheyev RW 78 T.J. Brodie D 88 William Nylander RW 91 John Tavares (C) C Head coach: Sheldon Keefe

Buffalo Sabres # Player Position 8 Robert Hägg D 10 Henri Jokiharju D 13 Mark Pysyk (A) D 15 John Hayden C 19 Peyton Krebs C 20 Cody Eakin C 21 Kyle Okposo (A) RW 23 Mattias Samuelsson D 24 Dylan Cozens C 26 Rasmus Dahlin (A) D 29 Vinnie Hinostroza C 31 Dustin Tokarski[2] G 37 Casey Mittelstadt C 41 Craig Anderson G 53 Jeff Skinner LW 71 Victor Olofsson LW 72 Tage Thompson RW 74 Rasmus Asplund C 78 Jacob Bryson D 89 Alex Tuch RW Head coach: Don Granato

^ Erik Källgren and Dustin Tokarski dressed as the back-up goaltenders. Neither entered the game.

Scratches

• Toronto Maple Leafs: Travis Dermott, Kyle Clifford, Nick Robertson
• Buffalo Sabres: Mark Jankowski, Casey Fitzgerald, Anders Bjork

Attendance

The 2022 Heritage Classic was the lowest attended NHL outdoor game with 26,119 spectators.^[2]

Entertainment

Country pop singer Lindsay Ell performed the Canadian and American national anthems and singer Alessia Cara performed during the first intermission. The Canadian Olympic women's ice hockey team, the gold medal winners at the 2022 Winter Olympics, were honoured during the second intermission.^[3] This game marks the first time that the bilingual version of O Canada was sung at the Heritage Classic.

Television

The game was broadcast on Sportsnet and TVA Sports in Canada and on TNT in the U.S.^[1]