Sabres recover for OT victory against Oilers

EDMONTON -- Jack Eichel extended his point streak to an NHL career-high 13 games with an assist on Colin Miller's overtime goal for the Buffalo Sabres in a 3-2 victory against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Sunday.

Miller scored his first of the season off a cross-crease pass from Marcus Johansson.
"It feels good, but it's one goal, and hopefully they come in bunches," Miller said. "They haven't come for a while, so hopefully there are more to come."
WATCH: [All Sabres vs. Oilers highlights]
Linus Ullmark made 26 saves for Buffalo (14-11-6), which went 1-1-1 on its Western Canada road trip and was coming off a 6-5 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.
Eichel has 10 goals and 13 assists during the longest active point streak in the NHL.
Sabres coach Ralph Krueger won his first game back in Edmonton since being fired by the Oilers following the 2012-2013 season.
"We talked about it in between periods and this morning, and we wanted to get a win for him," said Buffalo forward Kyle Okposo, who scored for the second consecutive game. "We know how much it meant to him. Things didn't end well for him here, and he won't say it, but I know that this game meant a lot to him."

Joakim Nygard had a goal and an assist, and Darnell Nurse had two assists for Edmonton (18-10-4), which came back from down two goals but lost for the third time in five games (2-2-1). Mike Smith made 19 saves.
"It's tough to say what's wrong," Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom said. "We've tried to get a winning streak going here, but it's not going to happen if we're not ready from the start. We can't expect to always be coming back from 2-0. I think we did a pretty good job to get back in the game and give us a chance, but we have to be better. We should be in the front seat in a game like this and outwork these guys."
Okposo put the Sabres up 1-0 at 4:08 of the first period when he tipped a point shot from Marco Scandella.
Johan Larsson scored on a rebound to make it 2-0 at 10:43 after Smith made the save on a redirection from Jimmy Vesey.
Riley Sheahan scored his first goal of the season on a breakaway at 8:25 of the second period to get Edmonton within 2-1.
"The first period, we came out a little slow, and they capitalized on some opportunities when we were maybe lacking a little focus," Sheahan said. "It's good to see we came back, but at the end of the game if you look at that first period and know that you shot yourself in the foot, we have to get on that quick and make sure we start the game the way we wanted to."

Nygard tied it 2-2 on the power play at 15:56 when he tipped a point shot from Nurse.
"We didn't have the right mindset when we came out," Oilers coach Dave Tippett said. "Early on, I think that we thought that we had a couple of guys coming back into the lineup and that it would just be free-wheeling and passing the puck into the net. When you don't compete the right way, you don't stomp on loose pucks, you don't take care of the puck, it ends up coming back at you. It came back at us two times in the first period, and we got behind."
Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl hit the goal post on a backhand with 6:54 left in the third period.
Draisaitl, who leads the NHL with 53 points (19 goals, 34 assists), and Oilers center Connor McDavid, who is second with 52 (19 goals, 33 assists), were held without a point. It was the fourth game this season that neither had a point.
"It was a beautiful victory here, especially because of the character we showed to get it," Krueger said. "We came out with a really good start, and until about the eight-minute mark of the second period, we were on track for a solid game. We let it slip, but I loved the way the guys recovered in the third period."

They said it

"They had a good stretch of probably 10 minutes (in the second period), and I thought the third was back and forth again. They definitely had their chances, we had our chances too, but I think for the most part of that game, we played our game more. And when we do that, we usually end up on top." -- Sabres defenseman Colin Miller
"We have to find something more consistent within our game where you get into the first and come out with a hard-fought period in the first, and then kind of go from there. That's the mindset we have to have, and that's how you're successful in this league." -- Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse

Need to know

Eichel has five points on tying goals and eight points on go-ahead goals during his point streak. ... Eichel, the No. 2 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, is 4-2-1 head-to-head against McDavid, the No. 1 pick in 2015. ... The Oilers have scored on the power play in four straight games (6-for-14) and are No. 1 in the NHL with the man-advantage at 32.3 percent (30-for-93).

What's next

Sabres: Host the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, FS-MW, NHL.TV)
Oilers: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, FS-CR, NHL.TV)