The Edmonton Oilers were closing out their homestand on Thursday night with a game against the Buffalo Sabres. This was a rematch of the game from the overtime thriller on March 9, where the Sabres ended up beating the Oilers in a shootout after the original shootout winner was called off for offside. The same goalies were going tonight as that game, with the Oilers going with Stuart Skinner while the Sabres countered with Ukko-Pekka Luhkkonen. The Sabres were also seven games back of the Red Wings for the final playoff spot in the east, making the game a must win.
Buffalo opens the scoring
Evan Bouchard steps up to defend the entry on Tage Thompson, leaving Mattias Ekholm and Connor McDavid to cover low. Ekholm gets on the wrong side of Alex Tuch with a loose puck, and McDavid makes a decision to dive in for the puck, leaving JJ Peterka wide open out front. Tuch is able to get him the puck. Skinner gets over and is set maybe a tad deep, but the bigger issue is that he squares up to Peterka’s shaft and not the stick blade, leaving the far side open.
Disallowed goal for the Sabres
The play ends up being offside, with Lukas Rousek entering the zone before Owen Power. The puck ends up on Rasmus Dahlin’s stick on the left wing, with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins slightly pressuring the play. He ends up in no man’s land, neither being tight to his check nor covering the pass, which takes away Skinner’s eyes. Skinner is trying to look to the inside but can’t get full sight. When he sees the body language for a release, he guesses on a high glove shot, allowing the puck to go in under his glove.
Buffalo scores again
Sam Carrick breaks up the play with Bowen Byram trying to find Victor Olofsson in the slot. However, he’s going the wrong way, allowing the Buffalo forward to track it down and spin for a shot before he can be pressured. Tyson Jost and Cody Ceci were battling at the net front, with the latter pushing the former into the crease obstructing Skinner. The Oilers goalie had went down on the attempted pass, guessing there would be a shot through traffic that never came. As a result, he’s late recovering, and when he finally gets sight over Jost, he is not square to the shot and attempts to reach behind him with the windmill but fails to get a piece. I suspect if Ceci hadn’t been pushing Jost into the crease, the Oilers would have challenged for goaltender interference.
Skinner Save
Connor Clifton walks in on a three-on-two with Nugent-Hopkins somehow being the nearest defender. Zach Benson is unchecked on the back door, so Skinner actually does a good job with the rebound by keeping the first save in front of him then sealing the ice, rather than banking it in off Benson if he tried to put it in the corner.
Peterka gets his second
Ceci makes an absolutely horrific play, sending a weak backhand up the boards which is easily intercepted. Clifton finds Peterka in the slot, from whom Ceci had backed off for some reason. Skinner starts the play in reverse VH, with his weak side leg properly engaged to seal the short side. Peterka’s release originally looks like it’s going far side, but is stick checked as he’s shooting resulting in the puck staying on the ice centre cut. With Skinner reacting to the original release, he kicks out his toe which opens the five hole to allow the goal. It’s not a great goal for Skinner, but there’s a reason it looks so bad.
Oilers’ offence saved the day
Skinner didn’t have his strongest game, but made enough saves to keep it close before the Oilers offence took off in the third. While the shot totals were lower for the Sabres, they did have a number of unpressured looks from high skill players. Luukkonen was good through 40 minutes, but fell apart after Edmonton got the first goal in the third and the realization that the playoffs were slipping away hit him.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
