BUFFALO, N.Y. – Pucks bounced over sticks, out of the offensive zone and to opponents. It looked just like the hockey game anyone would expect from a matchup of the last place teams from each conference.
In a battle of the basement-dwellers, the Edmonton Oilers got a late goal from Boyd Gordon to beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 Friday night at First Niagara Center.
Iiro Pakarinen and Mark Arcobello also scored for Edmonton (5-8-2), which snapped a four-game losing skid.
Goaltender Viktor Fasth made 29 saves for the victory.
Matt Moulson and Drew Stafford scored for the Sabres (3-10-1), who remained last in the NHL with the regulation loss.
Despite giving up three goals, Buffalo netminder Michal Neuvirth continued his stellar play of late by making 49 saves.
The Oilers travel to New York to face the Rangers on Sunday before wrapping up the road trip Tuesday at the Nashville Predators.
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On a chilly Friday night in November, the crowd of 17,490 was subdued even from the start. Mistakes on each side led to chances in the first, like a semi-breakaway by Pakarinen and a deflection off the post by Buffalo’s Cody McCormick.
Thanks to 19 saves by Neuvirth and 12 by Fasth, it was scoreless into the first intermission.
A turnover by Edmonton defenceman Jeff Petry led to the Sabres opening the scoring 26 seconds into the second period. Petry turned the puck over behind his net, and a quick pass from Brian Gionta found Moulson for his first of the season.
Less than a minute later, the Oilers got even at 1-1. Mark Fayne’s shot bounced long off Neuvirth’s pads and right to Pakarinen, who fired it in for the first of his NHL career.
This was just the second game for Pakarinen, a 2011 draft pick of the Florida Panthers whom the Oilers signed to a two-year contract in the off-season.
A nifty move by Stafford put the Oilers behind 6:34 into the third. Stafford got around Martin Marincin and beat Fasth with a clean wrist shot for his third goal of the year.
Arcobello answered for the Oilers at 11:42 when a rebound from a David Perron shot got to him in the slot. Arcobello whiffed at first but had an uncontested second opportunity and scored to make it 2-2.
Gordon’s second goal of the season was a beauty and the game-winner. Teddy Purcell found him streaking to the net, and Gordon beat former Washington Capitals teammate Neuvirth at 15:45 before falling and celebrating by the time he rolled into the boards.
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