28 saves to lift the Buffalo Sabres to a 3-1 win over the Edmonton
Oilers on Wednesday night.
Drew Stafford, Steve Montador and Jochen Hecht scored for the Sabres (10-4-1), who snapped a two-game losing streak.
Tim Connolly also added a pair of assists in Buffalo’s fourth straight win over Edmonton.
Patrick O’Sullivan scored, and Nikolai Khabibulin made 23 saves for the Oilers (8-9-2), who have lost five of six.
Edmonton left winger Liam Reddox was
knocked out when he was rammed headfirst into the boards by Clarke
MacArthur late in the game.
Stafford opened the scoring with 4:29
left in the first period when he lifted a backhand from in tight over
Khabibulin’s left shoulder for his team-leading fifth goal.
Buffalo made it 2-0 when Montador
fired a slap shot from the right circle for his first goal of the
season, scored at 7:34 of the second.
While the Oilers were on a two-man
advantage, O’Sullivan cut the deficit in half with his third goal. He
one-timed a feed from Ales Hemsky with 2:11 left in the middle period.
Hecht capped the scoring with an empty-net goal with 19 seconds to go.
Notes
Buffalo RW Mike Grier went to
the dressing room with 12 minutes left in regulation and didn’t return.
… The Sabres are 4-0 against Western Conference teams. … Hemsky,
Edmonton’s second-leading scorer, returned after missing two games
because of a shoulder injury. … Khabibulin has started all but three
games for Edmonton. … The Oilers are 1-7 when the opposition scores
first. … Sabres LW Thomas Vanek was whistled for three penalties.