Sad News: Buffalo Sabres Star Player Has Been Banned In Ice Hockey….
EDMONTON, AB – The Edmonton Oilers scored six unanswered goals – including five in the final period – to handily defeat the Buffalo Sabres 8-3 at Rogers Place on Thursday night despite the visitors keeping it close over the first 40 minutes.
JJ Peterka had two goals for the Sabres to give them two separate leads, but his German counterpart Leon Draisaitl was one of six different Oilers who recorded multiple points in the victory that was Edmonton’s ninth win in their last 12 games (9-1-2).
“We’re finding ways to get wins,” McDavid said. “I would still like to see a little bit more control of games. I still think we’re finding our game. Obviously, it’s nice that we’re winning and producing wins, but I still think that there’s more there. There’s more to be had. There’s more urgency, which is a good thing. It’s that time of year when we need to ramp up and get ready to go.”
“We’re still playing for positioning and all that, so still lots to be playing for.”
Mattias Ekholm was a force offensively with two goals and an assist, making it five points in his last two games, while Connor McDavid contributed four helpers for his sixth game of the season with four or more points.
Troy Stecher recorded his first Oilers point with an assist, and Zach Hyman added two more goals to grow his team-leading total to 48. Hyman will have the opportunity to reach the 50-goal mark on Saturday night when the Oilers face the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Hockey Night in Canada.
“Obviously it would be special, but I’m not focused on it,” Hyman said. “I’m sure I’ll be asked about it a lot tomorrow and on Saturday. But really, I just want to win there. I don’t think I’ve won there since I’ve been here, so it would be great to go in there and win.”
Ekholm continued his steady offensive play in recent games by helping the Oilers draw back level twice in the second period off a terrific showing of skill on his sixth goal of the year and the set-up on Hyman’s 47th tally of the season.
“He was great,” McDavid said. “I thought he was great the other night too. He’s been great for us ever since he’s been here, and especially this run of play his game’s even gone up a little bit.”
The Swede almost looked like a forward at times with how much he was jumping up into the rush, and he had the hands to show for it when he made it 2-2 less than five minutes into the middle frame.
“Last week, I was sick that one game and it made me actually get five days off, which with the schedule we’ve had is kind of unheard of,” Ekholm said. “So my legs feel really good and I feel like I’m reading the plays well right now. Hopefully, it won’t be at the cost of defence or goals against, but as long as we keep playing a sound game and keeping it forward, there’s no reason why it will.”
Ekholm had Evander Kane with him on a two-on-one four minutes into the period, but the blueliner elected to look off the winger before dragging the puck around the stick of Byram and firing his shot top shelf on Luukkonen that surprised the netminder, leaving him paralyzed in stunned belief inside the blue paint.
Even Ekholm said he was surprised that the opportunity opened up for him.
“I got on a two-on-one and with Kaner and [the pass] kind of got taken away. So I figured I’d try to find a hole and got it through the d-man, and the goalie was surprised.”
Peterka restored Buffalo’s one-goal lead with his second of the game until Ekholm was once again pivotal in erasing it after he put a puck on goal from the blueline in the last minute of the period that was redirected by Hyman over the unaware Luukkonen for his 47th goal of the season.
“We all know now it’s about to get to crunch time and we can’t lean into games and just sit there and wait,” Ekholm said of the intermission team talk. “I just didn’t like the first and we all realized that. I think we have a pretty mature team in here and everybody understands when we play good and bad, but sometimes it needs to be said.”
