Embarrassed in Edmonton

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Fans in Edmonton probably watched their best game of the season while Sabres fans most likely went to bed before the game was even over. The Oilers scored seven times in an easy 7-2 victory at Rogers Place on Monday night. 

After just 4:33 of play, Edmonton had jumped out to a 3-1 lead. They got a pair of goals from former Sabre Zack Kassian, who only had one all season long. 

Buffalo actually opened the scoring with a nice deflection from Casey Mittelstadt one minute into the game, but it didn’t prove to be a problem at all for the Oilers. 

Per.TimeEVGoalAssistAssist
15:43Nicklas Backstrom (1)Alex Ovechkin (1)T.J. Oshie (1)
18:48PPGTaylor Hall (1)Victor Olofsson (1)Jack Eichel (1)
110:33PPGT.J. Oshie (1)Alex Ovechkin (2)John Carlson (1)
27:05John Carlson (1)T.J. Oshie (2)Nicklas Backstrom (1)
213:23Brenden Dillon (1)Conor Sheary (1)Lars Eller (1)
218:46Tobias Rieder (1)Dylan Cozens (1)Jake McCabe (1)
30:20Jake McCabe (1)Jack Eichel (2)Tage Thompson (1)
30:46Jakub Vrana (1)------
318:06Victor Olofsson (1)Taylor Hall (1)Sam Reinhart (1)
318:57ENGarnet Hathaway (1)Nick Jensen (1)---

Carter Hutton was pulled early in the second period after allowing five goals on 12 shots. The Oilers were converting on their opportunities all night long, but they only recorded 25 shots on goal. Linus Ullmark came in the game, but didn’t perform too much better, allowing two more goals on 13 shots.

Evan Rodrigues scored the other Buffalo goal, but the Oilers dictated the game and outplayed Buffalo by a landslide.

“I think we know we had one get away from us…I don’t think, you look at the chances, we gave up too much, we let one get away from us in the 2nd half. It’s obviously a tough one, it brings the room down during the game, but it can also bring the room together.” – Rodrigues

The Sabres had other big chances during the game, but they weren’t converting on them. They finished with 43 shots, but Mikko Koskinen was flashing his glove all night and improved to 13-8-1.

It was just the third time Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel were playing against each other, but that storyline never played out in this one. 

The Sabres are now a three-game slide and the playoffs are getting further out of reach. This collapse is cause for concern, but Buffalo has to find a way to snap out of it because they’re playing the Calgary Flames on Wednesday. Puck drop is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. EST.

Per.TimePlayerPenaltyMinutes
15:52Vladimir SobotkaHooking2:00
113:22Rasmus RistolainenSlashing2:00
116:38Vincent TrocheckSlashing2:00
24:35Frank VatranoHolding2:00
26:57Rasmus DahlinTripping2:00
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Kevin Freiheit
Kevin Freiheit
I founded Buffalo Hockey Central in 2008 and have poured hours and hours into this site. Luckily, we have a great team of writers and designers who have helped keep this up and running despite a ton of out-of-pocket costs. We do this because we enjoy it, and we're desperate to see the Sabres win the Cup someday, but they have to make the playoffs first.
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