‘The bad habits that have followed them since opening night snowballed in what center Evan Rodrigues called an “eye opener.” Buffalo outshot the Oilers, 43-25, however, the Sabres continue to give up too many scoring chances.’
Archives for January 15, 2019
Sabres’ Casey Mittelstadt learning patience during rookie season
‘”Patience is probably the thing I’ve learned most this year,” Mittelstadt said following Monday’s morning skate. “I’m pretty hard on myself and I always expect to have results right away. Maybe they haven’t come yet, but I’ve learned a lot of patience.”‘
Former Sabres defenseman Josh Gorges retires
‘Though his play declined, Gorges was an emotional leader both on and off the ice. He was often out of the lineup last season, but coach Phil Housley put Gorges in the starting lineup during the 4-3 regular-season finale loss to the Florida Panthers at BB&T Center.’
The Wraparound: Oilers 7, Sabres 2
‘Carter Hutton was pulled less than six minutes into the second period after allowing five goals on 12 shots, though his teammates gave him little help.’
Buffalo Sabres making slow. steady progress on the rebuild
‘“We learned a lot about our group in the beginning of the year, what we need to do to be successful,” said Eichel. “It’s defending hard, trying to minimize the time in our end, play fast, get to their goalie. We have to get some desperation back in our game.”’
Tuesday’s Edmonton Coverage
Oilers get some supplementary scoring to bury Buffalo Sabres (Edmonton Journal)
Player grades: Oilers roll Sabres & are now tied for final playoff spot (Edmonton Journal)
Jones: Slapstick win relieves tension for Edmonton Oilers (Edmonton Sun)
Buffalo Sabres making slow. steady progress on the rebuild (Edmonton Sun)
Oilers’ Ken Hitchcock still searching for answers to scoring woes (Sportsnet)
Oilers’ Lucic providing hope he can turn season around (Sportsnet)
Edmonton Oilers bust out against Sabres (CHED-AM)
Photo gallery (NHL.com)
Game story: Oilers 7, Sabres 2 (EdmontonOilers.com)
Lucic, Kassian each score 2 to power Oilers in win over Sabres
‘“It seems like our mistakes right now, every single one ends up in our net,” Buffalo captain Jack Eichel said. “You know you’re going to make mistakes over the course of the game and the magnitude of the mistakes are probably too big.”‘
Oilers rout Sabres 7-2
‘The Sabres pulled within a goal at 8:57 of the first on Evan Rodrigues’ 3rd of the season, but Connor McDavid made it 4-2 in the opening minute of the 2nd and Edmonton never looked back. Milan Lucic put the Oilers up 5-2 about 4:30 later, ending Hutton’s night. Linus Ullmark came off the bench for Buffalo and kept the Oilers out of the net for the rest of the 2nd period, but Lucic eventually added another early in the 3rd. Leon Draisaitl made it 7-2 with a power play goal at 5:16 of the 3rd, finishing off a McDavid chance.’
The Sabres may have hit rock bottom
‘You can’t have players who aren’t under duress just handing the puck to the opponent in front of the net. To me the defensive effort was a lack of concentration and if Phil Housley doesn’t get to the bottom of that in a big hurry, it’s going to be too late.’
From the Locker Room: Sabres-Oilers
‘”I thought we established our game pretty good early. In the second period we had some good cycling. It just seemed like when we weren’t able to get one, they were able to get one. Their scoring was more timely than ours. It’s frustrating. It’s a rough patch for our group right now and we just have to find a way out of it. We have to stick together, that’s the biggest thing. We’ve got to stay up on the bench, stay up on each other. It’s got to come from within here.”‘