Oilers dominate Sabres for 4th straight win
Draisaitl becomes fastest Edmonton player to score 40 goals in a season since '88-89
Kailer Yamamoto, Connor McDavid and Tyson Barrie each had a goal and an assist as the Edmonton Oilers won their fourth in a row, defeating the Buffalo Sabres 6-1 on Thursday.
Leon Draisaitl, Darnell Nurse and Devin Shore also scored for the Oilers (34-23-4), who have gone 4-0 on a key five-game homestand.
The Oilers started the scoring 7:21 into the opening period as Yamamoto pounced on a loose puck in front and snapped a shot high to the glove side past Sabres starter Craig Anderson, giving him goals in four straight games and 15 on the season. Edmonton came into the game with a 19-0 record when scoring first this year.
"I thought we got contributions from everybody," Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said. "All four lines, three D-pairs, Mike Smith was excellent, the penalty kill was good, we got a shorthanded goal and we scored a power play goal. All facets of the game seemed to be firing on all cylinders."
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Edmonton added to its lead with seven minutes left in the first period as McDavid had a pass bounce back to him and he tucked it in at the side of the net. It was also the fourth straight game the Oilers' captain has scored, putting him at 34 on the season.
Edmonton took a four-goal lead with six minutes left in the second when Nurse snuck through a shot after sustained pressure.
Buffalo finally got on the board three minutes into the third as Olofsson sent a one-timer rocket past Oilers goalie Mike Smith, who would go on to earn his first win since Feb. 17.
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The Oilers got that goal back a few minutes later as Tyson Barrie sent a long pass up to spring Shore for a shorthanded breakaway goal.
Edmonton scored a power-play goal with four minutes left when Barrie activated from the blueline to score his fourth.
"It was a full 60 minutes. It was maybe as good of a game as we have played all year," Barrie said. "After two periods we realized that we had played a pretty solid game up to that point and we made a point of coming out and drilling home that last 20 minutes to show us what it feels like to play the full game."
The Sabres are right back at it on Friday as they head to Calgary to face the Flames. Edmonton closes out a five-game homestand against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.