Edmonton Oilers bust out against Sabres

By Reid Wilkins 630CHED

Posted January 15, 2019 1:11 am

Updated January 15, 2019 9:15 am

2 min read

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The Edmonton Oilers scored three goals in the first four-and-a-half minutes of Monday night’s game against Buffalo on their way to a 7-2 drubbing of the Sabres at Rogers Place.

The teams combined for five goals in the first 8:57 of the game.

The Sabres’ Casey Mittelstadt opened it up with a deflection goal 1:00 into the game.

Oilers forward Zack Kassian tied it when his long shot went in off the stick of Sabres defenceman Zach Bogosian.

The Oilers’ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins tipped in a Caleb Jones point shot just 50 seconds later. Then, Kassian sped in front and knifed in a pass from Toby Rieder, giving the Oilers three goals in 1:55.

“Those are, sometimes the breaks you need to open the flood gates,” Kassian said after the game. “I don’t think we’ve really changed much. We ended up getting a few bounces and a few goals go in.”

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Evan Rodrigues got one back for the Sabres, who outshot the Oilers 15-8 in the first.

“It was fun to play,” Rieder said. “We came right out of the gates hard and gave up a little too much in the first period, but other than that, I think we played a really good game.”

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Just 24 seconds into the second, Sabres defenceman Rasmus Ristolainen fell at the offensive blue line. Oilers captain Connor McDavid jumped on the loose puck and beat Buffalo netminder Carter Hutton on a breakaway.

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Less than five minutes later, the Sabres’ Marco Scandella turned the puck over in front to Oilers forward Milan Lucic, who rifled home his third of the season. Hutton was replaced by Linus Ullmark after allowing five goals on 12 shots.

Lucic tallied again early in the third and later, Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl added a power play goal to make it 7-2.

“[Lucic] looks to me like the player that [he] was around three years ago,” Oilers coach Ken Hitchcock said. “He’s got speed, he’s got tempo in his game at both ends of the rink, he’s able to pressure off the boards and make quick decisions off the boards.

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“This is now five or six games like this.”

Oilers goaltender Mikko Koskinen made 41 saves, including breakaway stops on Tage Thompson in the second and on Kyle Okposo late in the third.

“We just needed to win, it doesn’t matter how it comes,” Koskinen said. “[Kassian] got two goals and [Lucic] got two goals, so that’s huge for the team, but in the end, it’s only two points.”

The Oilers (22-21-3) will visit Vancouver on Wednesday.

–With files from 630 CHED’s Brenden Escott

Watch below: Some videos from Global News’ coverage of the Edmonton Oilers’ 2018-19 season.