Player grades: Oilers leave a point on the table in lacklustre loss to Sabres
With the distractions of the trade deadline behind them and their roster set, Edmonton Oilers got off to an excellent start in Buffalo on Saturday morning before losing touch with both their offensive mojo and their defensive discipline. Ultimately, the squad blew their early 2-0 lead and fell 3-2 in the shootout to Buffalo Sabres.
To be fair, it’s been a tough travel regimen for the Oil of late. Over a 168-hour span they’ve played 5 games in 5 different cities with a wide range of start times from 2pm to 8pm to 5pm to 11am MST. A sixth game in 9 days awaits tomorrow morning in Pittsburgh at 11am MDT, which I will remind readers comes up even faster with the overnight clock change.
In the process, the club seems to have lost its rhythm with 2 weak games in a row against Eastern Conference also-rans. Edmonton was fortunate to get a point on Saturday, given that the Sabres rang 4 shots off the ironworks
behind Stu Skinner and completely missed the target on a number of great looks. The Oilers got a further massive break when Owen Power’s apparent game winner with 2 seconds left in overtime was waved off for a microscopic offside 20 seconds earlier. But the stay of execution lasted only until the shootout in which the hosts prevailed, 2 goals to 1.
The Oil outshot Buffalo 32-27, but it was the Sabres who held a 14-11 advantage in Grade A Shots, including a 4-0 edge in the third period and 3-0 in OT (running count). Meanwhile the Oilers convincingly won the faceoff battle 39-10 (80%), but were decidedly second-best on the physicality front with 14 hits to 40.
#2 Evan Bouchard, 4. Not his finest hour, nor his finest overtime for that matter. Didn’t create a whole lot and struggled defensively, especially down the stretch. Did manage a team-high 4 shots but all were from distance. His specialty the powerplay had a rough afternoon, with his only involvement in a scoring chance being the time he got walked by Dylan Cozens on a shorthanded 1v1. Played a team-high 23:55. Contributions to Grade A Shots (GAS): Even Strength +1/-4; Special Teams +0/-1.
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