The Edmonton Oilers’ seven-game road trip took another hit Monday night as they fell 5–1 to the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center, a defeat Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said hinged on a sharp momentum swing after the first period. Edmonton opened with the jump and pressure they wanted generating early chances and tying the game 1–1, but according to Knoblauch everything changed after Buffalo’s late first-period power play goal.
“I thought we got off to a pretty good start,” he said. “There were good chances and energy. After their power play goal, I thought we let up a little bit whether it was confidence or emotion. We just didn’t have the same jump we had starting the game.”
Buffalo capitalized on that shift scoring four unanswered goals including two from rookie Noah Ostlund, to take full control of the game. The head coach pointed out Edmonton’s defensive zone issues as one of the major reasons behind the loss.
Defensive zone issues continue to plague the Oilers
While the Oilers have struggled this season with chances allowed off the rush, Knoblauch emphasized that Monday’s loss had a different profile. Edmonton contained Buffalo in transition but their defensive-zone structure broke down repeatedly as the game wore on.
“Defensive zone they had us running around,” Knoblauch said. “Whether we’re getting beat to the net or just not being aggressive enough… we’re so tight in the middle that we just let them walk around. We’ve got to be more assertive there.
The Sabres exploited those gaps with goals from Bowen Byram, Beck Malenstyn, and Tage Thompson, while Rasmus Dahlin added two assists. Goaltender Stuart Skinner stopped 23 shots but the Oilers struggled to clear rebounds, protect the slot or halt Buffalo’s cycle pressure.
Kris Knoblauch wants to make the team “harder to play against”
The loss dropped Edmonton to 4–7–2 on the road and 9–8–4 overall. This again deepens the concern around their inconsistency away from Rogers Place. Knoblauch too didn’t shy away from the reality of the situation.
“We’re always disappointed after any loss,” he said. “We’ve got expectations to be better…There are a lot of things we can get better at. Make our team harder to play against. Right now, we’ve got a lot of things to clean up.”
Buffalo outworked Edmonton in the second half of the game and outskated them at even strength and won the majority of key puck battles, an issue that has plagued the Oilers across this road trip.
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Kris Knoblauch had high praise for Jack Roslovic
The lone bright spot for Edmonton was Jack Roslovic who scored the team’s only goal and also his seventh of the season continuing a five-game point streak. Roslovic’s one-timer off a Leon Draisaitl feed momentarily tied the game, but the Oilers couldn’t build on it.
Knoblauch praised the forward’s impact considering he joined the Oilers late and never had a training camp.
“We’ve been very fortunate to have Jack,” he said. “He’s pushing the pace of our game, carrying the puck into the zone, scoring big goals. He’s been a nice addition. We’d like to get more contributions throughout our lineup, but Jack has been a good player for us.”
So far, depth production remains an issue and with the team stuck in a stretch of heavy travel, Edmonton needs more than isolated standout performances to steady their season.
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