Oilers rally past Sabres for third straight win

BUFFALO --The Edmonton Oilers scored three straight goals late in the second period to rally for a 4-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Monday.

Leon Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse each had a goal and an assist, Zack Kassian and Kyle Brodziak scored, and Connor McDavid had two assists for the Oilers (29-30-7), who have won three in a row and trail the Minnesota Wild by six points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Mikko Koskinen made 35 saves.
"We said it before, a lot of people are against us," Draisaitl said. "We know that, but we're not going to stop until it's over or we're in. Another gutsy effort, really good road trip from the whole group. We've got to keep this up."
WATCH: [All Oilers vs. Sabres highlights]
Jack Eichel had two goals, and Casey Mittelstadt scored for the Sabres (30-28-8), who have lost eight of 10 (2-7-1) and remain nine points back of the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
"You've got to play a full 60 minutes. You've got to check for a full 60 minutes in this League," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "We outshot them, we out-chanced them. There's no reason why we shouldn't have come out with two points tonight, and it's just a little bit of defensive lapses for five minutes."

Linus Ullmark allowed four goals on 20 shots before being pulled after the second period. He was replaced by Carter Hutton, who made seven saves.
Kassian received a cross-ice pass from McDavid for a one-timer from the left circle to cut it to 3-2 at 16:29 of the second period, and Nurse skated into the left circle and scored on a slap shot off a backhand pass from Draisaitl from along the left boards to tie it 3-3 at 18:46.
"I wasn't necessarily looking at him, but I knew he was there," Draisaitl said.
Brodziak put Edmonton ahead 4-3 when Adam Larsson's point shot redirected off his skate and trickled past Ullmark with 4.3 seconds left.
Draisaitl gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead at 1:28 of the first period, scoring shorthanded on a one-timer from the slot on a 2-on-1 with McDavid. Draisaitl has 17 points (nine goals, eight assists) during an 11-game point streak.

Eichel tied it 1-1 on the same power play, shooting the puck over Koskinen's shoulder from below the left circle at 2:42.
Mittelstadt took a pass from Scott Wilson in the left circle at 13:29 to give the Sabres a 2-1 lead, and Eichel extended it to 3-1 at 17:24 when he looked off a pass on a 3-on-1 and scored blocker side.
"I thought [Koskinen], when it was 3-1, held us together," Oilers coach Ken Hitchcock said. "And then when we started to create some cycle game toward the end of the second, we felt a lot more comfortable in our game. But today was exactly what it was, it was a gutsy win, it was a never-say-die effort again. We're getting a lot of that now and we've just got to stay with it."

The Sabres had opportunities to tie it, including a Jeff Skinner chance to right of the crease that hit the post and Jason Pominville on the other side, who whiffed on a shot into an open net with less than four minutes remaining in regulation.
"It was clearly going in and just kind of double-touched it on my way back," Pominville said. "It's a tough feeling when you see it going in and then all of a sudden coming out."

They said it

"We stay with it on the road whereas at home we get impatient and we want to strike right away. If we can bring some of that patience off the road back home and keep working like we are and keep having the good spirit we've got going, you never know." -- Oilers coach Ken Hitchcock
"We've got to be better. It's unacceptable. I thought we did a lot of good things, we created a lot of chances, had a lot of shots, probably out-chanced them, but you've got to play 60 (minutes) to win. It's happened too often."-- Sabres forward Jason Pominville

Need to know

Draisaitl's 11-game point streak matches the longest of his career, set March 14-April 4, 2017 (five goals, 14 assists). … Sabres defenseman Zach Bogosian did not play because of a lower-body injury. He is day to day. ... Eichel's second goal was his 25th of the season, tying his NHL career high set in 2017-18. … Buffalo lost to Edmonton at home in regulation for the first time since Nov. 7, 2014.

What's next

Oilers:Host the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, SNP, NHL.TV)
Sabres:At the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday (8:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NBCSCH, MSG-B, NHL.TV)