GAME STORY: Oilers 7, Sabres 2

EDMONTON, AB - We hope you arrived on time for this one.
The Oilers scored three goals in a span of 1:55 inside the first five minutes of the first period before coasting to a commanding 7-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres at Rogers Place on Monday, closing out a three-game home stand with an emphatic victory.

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OILERS TODAY | Post-Game vs. BUF
POST-GAME RAW | Lucic
POST-GAME RAW | Kassian
POST-GAME RAW | Koskinen
POST-GAME RAW | Oilers Head Coach Ken Hitchcock
THE OTHER SIDE | Sabres Post-Game Reaction

WHAT'S NEXT
The Oilers are in Vancouver on Wednesday to face the Canucks. The game can be seen on Sportsnet West and heard on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED. Puck drop is 8:08 p.m. MST.
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Inside The Oilers Blog
Casey Mittelstadt opened the scoring a minute in before the Oilers answered thrice in quick succession, with Zack Kassian scoring twice and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins notching his 15th goal of the season.
"The first one was a lucky bounce, plain and simple, and the second one was a good play by [Tobias Rieder]," Kassian said post-game. "I don't think we've changed much in the way we played. We ended up getting a few bounces and the goals went in. Perfect."
Milan Lucic had a two-goal night, extending a productive goal-scoring spell for the forward to three goals in four games and three in the calendar year for 2019.
Buffalo are now winless in their last six road games.
"I've said it before that I'm not even going to talk or go into 2018, so lots to play for here in 2019 to get ourselves back into the mix," Lucic said. "It's about stringing a few games together here moving forward."
Mikko Koskinen made 41 saves and tallied an assist to improve to 13-8-1.
"We needed to win, and it didn't matter how it came," Koskinen said. "Of course scoring seven goals is big. Kass scored twice and Lucic got two big goals, but in the end it's only two points.
"Everyone needs to be good. Our okay is not good enough right now, so everybody needs to play at their best."
Before the first commercial break, the Oilers and Sabres had already done most of the work.
It took exactly one minute for the Sabres to take the lead when Mittelstadt's deflection off the shot from Conor Sheary eluded Koskinen, but the Oilers got it back when Kassian's net-bound shot 1:33 later took a fortunate redirection off the stick of defenceman Zach Bogosian.
Nugent-Hopkins had the Oilers ahead 50 seconds later, before Kassian capped off three goals in 1:55 for the home side with his second of the game to extend the lead off the feed from Rieder.

But with 11:03 on the clock in the first period, Evan Rodrigues halved the deficit for Buffalo from the slot to wrap up scoring for a busy first 20 minutes. The Oilers and Sabres combined for five goals in the first 8:57 of the contest.
Koskinen stayed busy all period, picking up the secondary helper on Kassian's second goal and making 14 saves as the Oilers were outshot 15-8 after the first frame.
"Mikko made some huge saves in the first to keep us in it, and we talked about it in the intermission that we finally got some bounces go our way," Lucic added.
The second period started even faster than the first when McDavid stumbled and skated away on a breakaway following a turnover by the Sabres defence, firing home his 28th marker of the campaign just 24 seconds from the face-off.
Hutton was 0-1-1 with a 3.91 goals-against average and .871 save percentage against the Oilers coming in to tonight, and didn't fare much better. A fifth from the Oilers would end his when a giveaway in the defensive zone by the Sabres defence was graciously converted unassisted by Milan Lucic for his second goal in four games.
Koskinen got back in on the action, this time robbing Tage Thompson on a partial breakway with the glove for another significant stop with the mitt.
The rout was on early in the third when Lucic dribbled through his second of the game on a two-on-one with Nugent-Hopkins, making it three goals in 2019 for the Vancouver, B.C. product.

"This is five games in a row where he's been like this. He's really playing well," Oilers Head Coach Ken Hitchcock said of Lucic. "He looks like the player for me that was around two or three years ago. He's got speed, he's got tempo in his game at both ends of the rink, and he's able to pressure and control the boards making quick decisions... It's good that he's scoring, but it's just the end product for how well he's playing."
Leon Draisaitl scored his 99th goal as an Oiler 1:34 later on the power play, finishing off the scramble in front of Linus Ullmark with McDavid and Darnell Nurse factoring in with the assists.
The Oilers take on the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday as part of a one-game road trip before returning home for three games ahead of the All-Star break.