Buffalo threw away a three-goal lead, but salvaged the win in overtime

Boxscore

Score: Buffalo Sabres 4-3 Edmonton Oilers (OT)
Shots: BUF 28-30 EDM

Buffalo Sabres Goals: Doan 9 PPG (Dahlin, Thompson), Thompson 14 (Unassisted), Doan 10 PPG (Thompson, Dahlin), Tuch 11 (McLeod, Dahlin)
Edmonton Oilers Goals: McDavid 15 (Ekholm), Podkolzin 6 (Draisatl, Emberson), McDavid 16 (Nugent-Hopkins, Bouchard)

Quick Thoughts

Head Hunting

Oilers forward David Tomasek drove towards the Sabres goal in the first period, and as he cut into the blue paint ahead of Ryan McLeod he reached for the puck as it was getting away from him. What followed next was odd as he leaned forward and plowed into the side of Colten Ellis’ head, with the goaltender going down hard and getting up looking somewhat dazed.

The Sabres went on the power play and got the game opener through Josh Doan tipping in Rasmus Dahlin’s point shot, before the call came down from the concussion spotter to pull Ellis. The starting goalie would not return to the game, here’s hoping this is precautionary and Ellis is okay.

Alex Lyon came on in relief and immediately had to make an impressive save sliding over to his right where Draisatl had escaped the attentions of four Sabres to find an open forward.

Take One, Score Another One

There is no doubting Tage Thompson’s ability to score goals. The issue with him continues to be consistency. Like buses, his goals tend to show up in bunches, and then dry spells in between.

Tonight he scored his tenth of the season banging in a rebound after Skinner had looked to have saved a shot from Dahlin. However, Edmonton challenged for a missed stoppage in play, and the refs agreed that there was a glove pass somewhere. Wasn’t clear initially who handled the puck there where Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs were fighting for space. Eventually the overhead replay showed that after the rebound had popped up off Skinner, The best I could see was that maybe Dahlin’s shot went off Tuch’s glove on it’s way to Tage, and if they were calling that a glove pass then that’s just BS.

Thompson didn’t let that get him down however, and he promptly got the goal that was due to him on his next shift on the ice. This time they took advantage of the same kind of error that the Sabres often make in their own end to give up a goal. Bouchard thought he was playing NHL 14 when he tried to step out from behind his own goal, only for Thompson to steal the puck off him like a bully picking out the Nerds Gummy Clusters from Bouchard’s Halloween bucket, and then slamming it into the corner to make it 2-0. He even celebrated by pointing to the back of the net to the Oilers’ chagrin.

It didn’t end there either, with Edmonton then getting called for a pick play trying to spring Connor McDavid which sent Buffalo back to the power play. From the boards on the left, Tage found Doan who made a pretty play in front of goal, pulling the puck through his legs and then flicking it home with his stick between his legs while Skinner still forlornly stared into the distance yearning for his happy place, 3-0 Sabres.

Momentum Shift

The Sabres came out for the third period with a three-goal lead needing to just play responsibly to hold out for a much-needed win. Unfortunately McJesus decided to finally show up against the Sabres as he flew down the ice and overpowered Kozak in front of goal to beat Lyon. A minute later Podkolzin went to the front of goal and was able to bang in another to make it 3-2, game most certainly on. Draisatl then found Podkolzin in front of net with Lyon making a big save, Dahlin lifting the forward’s stick to ensure he wouldn’t be getting in front of the Sabres’ goalie’s face.

Buffalo’s defense started looking more and more ragged as the Oilers poured on the pressure. Dahlin ended up dragging down Draisatl behind the goalie for a power play the Sabres killed off. The Sabres then got a great chance to kill off the game, with Hyman taking a hooking penalty to send the Sabres on a power play, and then midway through that Henrique tripped Thompson to make it a 5-on-3. The drama continued, the Sabres were unable to take advantage, and then a minute into the next power play, Tuch got sent to the box for a weak, make-up call which would then make it 4-on-4. That continued into a minute-plus power play for the home side. The Sabres killed that, and then Malenstyn got hooked to give Buffalo a power play with about two and a half to play.

The visiting side just tried to play keep-away as they let the clock tick down, with Jack Quinn getting hauled down and no call on a strange night for the zebras where they called what they usually don’t, and didn’t call what they should. 33 seconds of empty net 6-on-5 hockey, and with just one second to play, Lyon got banged into by Draisatl and dragged into a pile-up in front of goal, and of course the puck leaked out to a wide-open McJesus to slam home into a wide-open net. Every second counts.

Overtime

Lindy Ruff chose not to challenge, knowing that a failed challenge would mean starting overtime on the penalty kill. Lyon appeared to be on the edge of the blue paint, so who knows. However, the coach was not left to rue that decision with adopted Sabre Bouchard losing the puck on the boards to Tuch, with McLeod setting up Dahlin for a saved shot.

That same trio kept the puck and then with McLeod in trouble against the boards, he threaded a pass through two Oilers to find Tuch all alone in front of goal to skin Skinner for the winner. Whew, what a finish.

At The Horn

The Sabres stopped the rot on the road, ending the three-game losing streak with another impressive win against the Oilers. Kris Knoblauch at this point will be happy to never see us again (until the Stanley Cup Finals of course). Minus Josh Norris and Jason Zucker, the Sabres power play was still pretty effective with a pair of goals for Josh Doan. This week more than any, there’s just no keeping the Joshes down.

Buffalo’s grueling road trip continues with a game on Thursday night in Vancouver.