GAME RECAP: Sabres 3, Oilers 2

BUFFALO, NY – Forward Tage Thompson scored two goals, while goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 32 saves for the Buffalo Sabres to hand the Edmonton Oilers a 3-2 defeat at KeyBank Center in the opening game of their four-game road trip on Monday night.

Leon Draisaitl had two assists for the Oilers to extend his point streak to a career-best 15 games, totalling 11 goals and 11 assists. The German forward recorded helpers on goals from Darnell Nurse and Evan Bouchard in the second period and now has 97 points (46G, 51A) in 64 games this campaign.

Evan Bouchard also extended his point streak to six games (3G, 3A) in the loss, which dropped Edmonton's record this season to 37-23-4 overall.

Connor McDavid and Troy Stecher each added assists, and goaltender Stuart Skinner stopped 20 of 23 shots in defeat.

"We got a couple days of practice, lots of time for some video, but I don't think any of the video is going to matter," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "I think we've been talking about it a lot – it's just about guys executing and finding that it's an important part of the game, making a play or making a nice pass. It's important."

The Oilers will try to get back in the win column in the first of back-to-back games on Thursday night at Prudential Center against the New Jersey Devils.

FIRST PERIOD

It was a cruel scoreline through 20 minutes at KeyBank Center for the Oilers on Monday considering the amount of high-quality chances they had to break the deadlock early on, but it was the Sabres who would capitalize on a lucky break to take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

"They came up with a good push, capitalized on their chances and we didn't," defenceman Darnell Nurse said. "I think for us, there was obviously a level of urgency coming out of the room right off the hop, and I think we had a lot of chances. Our ability to bear down and going back to the net isn't at the level I think that it usually is, though."

Winger Connor Brown had two back-hand chances around the blue paint of goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen early saw his second effort off his own rebound hit the post against a wide-open Buffalo net. Less than a minute later, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins struck iron from the right side of the crease as the Sabres were able to escape two early opportunities from the Oilers to open the scoring in the opening four minutes of play.

The Oilers were lucky to avoid a double-minor for high-sticking to Adam Henrique soon after when a review by the officials determined the Sabres player was caught by the stick of his own teammate, avoiding any sort of lengthy penalty kill for Edmonton.

Leon Draisaitl had a break-away opportunity to push his point streak to a career-high 15 games when Luukkonen blockered away his attempt with 7:21 left in the frame. Less than a minute later, that save would prove vital after a mistake from Stuart Skinner at the other end would put the Sabres into the lead despite them being on the back foot for most of the period.

The Oilers weren't managing the puck as well as they did in the first half of the period when a turnover in the offensive zone led to the Sabres scoring the opener at the other end, seeing Tage Thompson shot mishandled by Stuart Skinner before he put away his own rebound for an unassisted goal.

Defenceman Darnell Nurse was close to getting it back for the Oilers before the intermission by striking the crossbar with a wide-open look from the top of the circles with less than 20 seconds remaining.

"I think we had enough chances to have four, five or maybe six goals," Knoblauch said. "You look at the goal post and you see their goaltender made some really big saves, but I think offensively, we only scored two tonight, which is usually not enough, but the chances that we give up were just self-inflicted."

SECOND PERIOD

A little more of the same from Leon in that middle frame – which in recent games has been a LOT.

The German superstar pushed his impressive point streak to a number he'd never reached in his career when his 50th assist of the season on Nurse's tying goal 1:35 into the second period pushed his streak to a career-best 15 games, tying Mark Messier (7) for the fourth-most 50-assist seasons in franchise history in the process after he passed the Moose for the fourth-most goals in an Oilers uniform during last Thursday's 3-2 overtime win over Montreal.

Draisaitl picked up a secondary helper when Nurse powered a hard shot along the ice that slid past a screened Luukkonen in the Buffalo crease, with Troy Stecher contributing the other helper after some good puck possession wheeling around the zone and exchanging passes along the blue line with DR25.

Buffalo regained the lead on Alex Tuch's 25th goal of the season just 2:18 later that beat Stuart Skinner from the hashmarks after former Oilers centre Ryan McLeod picked off the puck in the neutral zone from Nurse when he jumped into the air to break up a rush chance for the Sabres.

"I think we controlled most of the play, had a lot of time in the offensive zone and had more chances," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "But what we didn't do is just [manage] mistakes that we made. You look at the turnovers that led to scoring chances off the rush, and I don't think we spent very little time in the defensive zone.

"I think we've done a pretty good job of that, but just the puck management and giving chances off the rush was a big story tonight."

Despite falling behind again, the Oilers would receive their first of three power plays in the middle frame on a Buffalo bench minor for too many men before making efficient work of the man advantage with a quick move off the ensuing offensive-zone faceoff.

Draisaitl won the draw cleanly right to Connor McDavid, who kicked it left to Evan Bouchard at the top of the circle for a certified Bouch Bomb™️ that beat Luukkonen cleanly on the glove side for his 12th goal of the season. The Oakville, Ont. product's tally was his 16th career PPG and pushed his own point streak to five games (3G, 3A), while another assist for Draisaitl gives him 97 points on the season as he tracks towards his fourth straight 100-point season.

THIRD PERIOD

Thompson worked in tandem with newcomer Josh Norris to win the puck against Bouchard as they came into the left circle before Buffalo's leading point-getter made a nice toe drag on Stuart Skinner to bury his second goal of the night, giving the Sabres a 3-2 lead with 13:28 left.

After the game, the Oilers would lament the chances they gave up off the rush and the opportunities they gave up that could've been prevented.

"I'd say watching the goals back, it's our ability to defend off the rush," Nurse said. "Especially when you have teams with a lot of skill, the opportunities that you give off the rush can be very dangerous. I think for us, we've got to clean those up and we probably got away from a little bit over the past while."

Minutes after falling behind 3-2, Draisaitl was an inch away from another tying goal and his 47th of the campaign off an amazing turn-around pass from McDavid that stretched Luukkonen into submission, but the German put his effort off the near post – their fourth striking of the iron in the game.

Edmonton's hopes of a comeback came to a head in the final five-and-a-half minutes, where their top-unit power play searched for a late equalizer on their fourth opportunity but encountered a resilient Luukkonen between the Buffalo pipes to serverely harm their hopes of tying the game.

After Jordan Greenway was denied on a short-handed odd-man rush by Stuart Skinner, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would be stopped point blank by Luukkonen inside the blue paint as the Sabres escaped with the critical penalty kill before the Oilers went for the hail mary by pulling their netminder for the extra man.

Draisaitl was nearly able to flip in the last-ditch equalizer near the right post with less than 30 seconds remaining at six-on-five, but the Sabres escaped the zone to see out the final seconds of their 25th victory of the season, handing the Oilers their 23rd defeat in the opening game of their four-game road trip.

"I think it's just sticking to the process of it," Nurse said. "I think as a team, we're obviously at a point in the year where a lot of things are driven by results. But for us, we want to make sure that we maintain a level head and stay the course of our game.

"With that said, when we come out on a night like this, I think our expectation is to come out most nights and play our game and find a way to win, and we didn't do enough this time."