GAME RECAP: Sabres 4, Oilers 2

EDMONTON, AB - Sometimes, you just run into a hot netminder.
Tuesday night for the Edmonton Oilers was a perfect example of that.
The Buffalo Sabres received stellar goaltending from local product Eric Comrie, who made 46 saves on 48 shots in a 4-2 defeat for the Oilers at Rogers Place in the third game of their six-game homestand to open the 2022-23 NHL season.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins made it a one-goal game with the net empty and 1:33 remaining in the third period, but despite relentless pressure over the final frame, including a 23-5 shot advantage, the Blue & Orange couldn't find the equalizer against an inspired and determined goaltender playing in front of family and friends in his hometown of Edmonton.
Defenceman Darnell Nurse found the back of the net in the opening five minutes of regulation to tie the game at 1-1 after Rasmus Dahlin opened the scoring with a power-play marker, but back-to-back goals from Tage Thompson and JJ Peterka in the second period provided the offence needed for the Sabres in front of a strong performance from their netminder.
"In the third period, I thought we pushed hard," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "But I don't think we've played a full 60 minutes yet in these first three games. So while there's positive signs, there's still a lot of stuff that we have to clean up."
Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner, also an Edmonton product, made 20 saves on 23 shots opposite of Comrie in his first start of the season. Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and Cody Ceci each produced single helpers in the defeat as Edmonton fell to 1-2-0 on the year heading into Thursday night's clash with the red-hot 3-0-0 Carolina Hurricanes.

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FIRST BLOOD

Brett Kulak and Jeff Skinner took coincidental unsportsmanlike conduct calls before a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins hooking penalty on 2021 first-overall pick Owen Power 13 seconds later sent the Sabres to an early 4-on-3 man advantage.
With the three Oilers penalty-killers covering the middle, it provided Rasmus Dahlin, another first-overall pick from 2018, all the time and space he needed to walk the top of the circles and beat Skinner blocker side with a wrist shot to open the scoring four minutes from the opening puck drop.
Dahlin is off to a hot start this season for the Sabres, putting up three goals and an assist in his first four games this campaign after posting 13 goals and 53 points in 60 games during the 2021-22 season.

NEED A NURSE?

Wait 23 seconds and then the Doctor will see you.
Darnell Nurse was buzzing around the offensive zone in the first period, first missing wide on a breakaway that even he might've been surprised to find himself on before getting another crack at an open look soon after the Oilers fell behind to Buffalo.
The Oilers transitioned quickly after picking up the puck in their own zone, with Nurse passing off to Leon Draisaitl and flying through the neutral zone on his way towards the back post. Draisaitl sifted a sweet pass onto the tape of Nurse on a partial 2-on-1 for the Doctor to one-touch under the sliding Comrie to level things up for Edmonton not even half a minute after Buffalo struck first.
"We gave up a goal off a lost faceoff on a 4-on-3 penalty kill, and that meant we didn't lead that period. But we did a lot of really good things in that period," Coach Woodcroft said. "What I really liked was our players' response after that goal. There was no letdown. We just got right back on the horse, so that was our best first period of this young season so far."
Nurse now already has two goals to his name through three games this season after notching nine to go along with 26 assists in 71 games last campaign

LIVE BY THE BLADE

In a contest that was resting on a knife's edge to begin the second period, the Sabres sliced deep.
Tage Thompson cut through the Oilers defence in the first minute of the middle frame to score a highlight-reel goal by toe-dragging a defender in the slot before protecting the puck, cutting back across Skinner and sliding it into the open net for the 2-1 lead.
Soon after, matters were made worse when Dylan Holloway was caught with a big open-ice hit by Ilya Lyubushkin in front of the penalty box that drew the response from the Oilers, particularly the passer Warren Foegele, to defend their teammate. Holloway would not return to the game after absorbing the hard check and Coach Woodcroft did not have an immediate update to provide on the forward during his post-game media availability.

Just past the five-minute mark, it was an errant pass from Draisaitl in the offensive zone that turned into a wide-open breakaway for JJ Peterka, who put it five-hole under Skinner to give the Sabres a two-goal lead before the Oilers had even registered a shot in the period.
After a formidable first-period performance from the Oilers that was very much the focus at practice following two slow starts in their opening two games, it was the middle frame that caused issues for Edmonton.
"I thought in the first and the third period, there was a lot of good in those periods," Coach Woodcroft said. "In the second period, we made a couple of mistakes that ended up in the back of our net and weren't able to outscore those mistakes. But certainly, through period one and period three, we liked what we saw."

COMRIE, MAYBE?

It was a battle between the hometown kids, with 23-year-old Skinner manning the Oilers crease against 27-year-old Comrie for Buffalo. A fun fact for you -- Tuesday's contest at Rogers Place was the first time in NHL history that two goaltenders born in Edmonton started opposite one another in the same game in Oil Country.
But there was nothing fun about facing Comrie on this occasion.
Comrie was locked in against his local club, getting beat by Nurse's equalizer in the first period but holding down the fort the rest of the night with 46 total saves on 48 shots. The Oilers peppered the blue paint but found their offence difficult to generate against the Edmonton boy between the pipes for the Sabres. Comrie came up with his biggest save in the final 30 seconds of the game, stopping Zach Hyman twice from point-blank range to keep Buffalo's lead at one after Nugent-Hopkins scored with 1:33 remaining with the Oilers net empty.
The former Winnipeg Jets, Detroit Red Wings, and New Jersey Devils netminder signed a two-year deal this offseason with Buffalo after starting a career-high 19 games last season and looks to increase that number in a tandem with veteran netminder Craig Anderson. Tuesday's performance will certainly help his case.

PARTING WORDS

Coach Woodcroft on the breakdowns in the second period leading to two Sabres goals:
"It's just coming down to understanding that good puck management leads to time in zone. The mistakes that were made at our blueline, on one, we missed the net. On another one, we're four in the rush and we're trying to make a play off the rush and attack. They have a couple of guys lingering in behind. We'd like to see that we don't have people in behind us if we can. Committing four to the rush, we're not going to take the stick out of our players' hands. It didn't go our way, but we would have liked to have had somebody in behind just making sure that we didn't give up the freebie of the breakaway."
Coach Woodcroft on improving finishing and limiting chances against:
"I think what you put an emphasis on is making sure that you're sharp and ready when it is your turn for your chance. I think that comes through earned confidence and just starts in practice bearing down on your chances. We know that if we keep pouring that amount of shots on net, if we keep getting those Grade-A chances, we have confidence that it will turn for us. But as we said at the start of the year, we feel we're going to score enough. It's eliminating some of those errors that lead to goals against that I think are within our control."

McDavid on building their game in a positive way despite the defeat:
"We don't like losing, obviously, so that's not any good. We're certainly still trying to find our game. I thought we did things better tonight. I thought we played a little faster. We controlled the pace of play and I thought there were some good things to build off of, but with that being said, we need to get results."
Nurse on the need to correct mistakes after falling to 1-2-0 in their first three games:
"Anytime you lose, there's no satisfaction in this room. There's no moral victory. We're not happy with being 1-2-0 here to start the year and we can say all we want, but we've got to come out and show it on the ice."
"We made a lot of mention to our start to games. Our start to the game tonight was better than the first two, but we gave them a couple of opportunities that we want to take back. I know for me, I want to take back that first one in the second, so there's areas of our game that got better, but with that said we're 1-2-0 and we're hungry to win games."

Nugent-Hopkins on bringing some of their late-game desperation to the earlier parts of games:
"I honestly thought that we had some of that in the first and second period, but definitely a little bit more desperation in the third. But we were getting to the net. He was making some good saves, he was strong down low, and give credit to him. But at the same time, we want to be able to put some of those in and if we find one in the second, the whole game changes."