Draisaitl, Oilers defeat Sabres for fourth straight win

EDMONTON --Leon Draisaitl scored his 40th goal of the season, and the Edmonton Oilers won 6-1 against the Buffalo Sabres at Rogers Place on Thursday.

Connor McDavid, Tyson Barrie and Kailer Yamamoto each had a goal and assist, and Zach Hyman and Cody Ceci each had two assists for the Oilers (34-23-4), who have won four straight.
"I think it was a full 60 minutes and maybe as good a game as we've played all year," Barrie said. "After two periods, we realized we played a pretty solid game up to that point, and we made a point of coming out and drilling that last 20 (minutes) to show us what it feels like to play the full game."
Mike Smith made 27 saves in his first start since March 5 and won for the first time since Feb. 17 (lost previous four starts).
"He just played steady all night, and I thought his ability to move the puck, when they were tired they would dump it in, and he breaks it out quick for us and we are back in their end," Hyman said. "It was great to get him the win and he earned it, so it is awesome."

Victor Olofsson scored, and Craig Anderson made 30 saves for the Sabres (20-33-8), who had won their past two games.
"What I saw was what everybody else saw, that was not a very good game," Buffalo coach Don Granato said. "They line matched and it was a hard match, and they won the matchup. They won the small area battles, and we did not. We didn't play with any pace whatsoever, and that was the difference in the game."
Yamamoto scored for the fourth straight game to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead at 7:21 of the first period. He took a pass from McDavid and scored from the right face-off circle.
McDavid then made it 2-0 at 13:10, scoring from the side of the net when an attempted centering pass bounced back to him.
"We didn't win any battles from the start; we made it really hard on ourselves," Olofsson said. "They've got some really skilled players. We had to get pucks deep and win our battles and, obviously, we didn't do that, and I think that kind of showed."

Draisaitl extended it to 3-0 at 8:42 of the second period, becoming the fastest Oilers player to score 40 goals (61 games) since Jimmy Carson in 1988-89 (55 games).
Darnell Nurse made it 4-0 at 13:42 when he swept in a loose puck in the left circle.
"When you're playing teams that are not really in the race and they're playing loose and they've got some good young speed [and] talent, it can definitely be tough to shut it right down like that," Barrie said. "You don't just want to sit back either. I think the Detroit game (7-5 win on Tuesday) was a good lesson for us. It was nice to learn from that and put it to the test, and I thought we were great all the way through."
Olofsson scored at 3:21 of the third period to make it 4-1, one-timing a cross-ice pass from Rasmus Asplund.
Devin Shore scored on a shorthanded breakaway at 5:58 to make it 5-1.
"I thought we got contributions from everybody, all four lines, three 'D' pairs, and Mike Smith was excellent," Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. "The penalty kill was good, we got a shorthanded goal, we got a power-play goal, all facets of the game seem to be firing on all cylinders, and because we had everybody going, we were able to spread out the minutes nicely tonight."

McDavid left the game with 5:41 left in the third period after being hit with a high stick by Sabres forward Vinnie Hinostroza, who was assessed a double minor. McDavid returned to the bench but did not play another shift.
Barrie made it 6-1 on the ensuing power play at 15:36, converting a cross-ice pass from Warren Foegele for his first goal since Nov. 20 (35 games).
"I feel like, in our own end, we got caught running around a little bit," Olofsson said. "We probably should have stayed more tight and let them be on the outside. When you start running around against a team like this, that's when they can make plays and make seam passes. We have a lot to improve for tomorrow (against the Calgary Flames)."
NOTES:Oilers forward Jesse Puljujarvi had one shot on goal, two hits and one blocked shot in 17:02 of ice time after missing 12 games with a lower-body injury. … McDavid has scored two points per game in four consecutive games (eight points; five goals, three assists). … Shore has scored goals in consecutive games for the first time since Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 2018, when he played for the Anaheim Ducks. … Barrie has a four-game assist streak (five assists). ... Yamamoto has scored seven points (four goals, three assists) in his past four games.