At Rogers Place on Tuesday night, the Buffalo Sabres snuck by the Edmonton Oilers 4-2 thanks in part to a new career-high 46 saves from Eric Comrie.
After the game, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins remarked, “We’ve got to find a way to gain a lead and hold on to it. When we’re playing at our best, I believe we’re a difficult team to resurrect.
“There is unquestionably no emergency. We’ve played three games and had opportunities to win all three.
There are still three games left on this homestand, and we need to make a significant improvement. In two of them, we haven’t performed up to par.
Four minutes into the game, Rasmus Dahlin gave the Sabres the lead with a four-on-three power play goal, beating Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner from the high slot.
Darnell Nurse tied it 23 seconds later while playing four-on-four, converting a pass from Leon Draisaitl.
Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft stated, “In the second period, we made a few of mistakes that found their way into our goal and we weren’t able to outscore those mistakes. We enjoyed what we saw during periods one and three, though.
Tage Thompson twisted around a couple of Oilers defenders to score with a great individual effort in the first minute of the second.
Less than five minutes later, J. J. Paterka scored on a breakaway to make it 3-1 Sabres.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid remarked, “I thought we gifted them two goals there.” On one, the child makes a great play, whereas the other was just a straightforward gift. We were aware of their talent and that they would harm us if we did things like that.
In the opening ten minutes of the third, the Oilers had a number of near calls, but Comrie persevered.
With little under five minutes remaining, McDavid had a shot from a close range after the Oilers had successfully killed a penalty.
Comrie made the save, and McDavid narrowly missed the rebound.
After the game, Nurse stated, “We kind of shot ourselves in the foot. “(Skinner) made some significant saves for us in critical situations, but we were unable to assist him.
He was dried out several times by us.
With 1:33 to go and Skinner pulled for an extra attacker, Nugent-Hopkins found the puck in a scramble and flipped in his first of the season.
With 30 seconds left, Zach Hyman appeared to have a certain goal, but Comrie made a fantastic pad save. Forward Alex Tuch of the Sabres scored an empty-net goal late.
The Oilers outshot the Sabres 48-24 overall and 23-5 in the third period.
First period Oilers forward Dylan Holloway was forced from the game after taking a brutal open-ice hit from Ilya Lybushkin. After the game, Woodcroft was unable to give an update.
Carolina will visit the Oilers (1-2) on Thursday.
The Faceoff Show airs at 5:30 p. m. on 630 CHED, where you may listen to the game live. The actual game starts at 7 o’clock. using documents from 630 CHED’s Brenden Escott.
Stymied by Eric Comrie Edmonton Oilers in Sabres win
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