Thompson scores twice, Sabres edge Oilers to end 6-game skid

BUFFALO -- Tage Thompson scored twice for the Buffalo Sabres in a 3-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers at KeyBank Center on Monday.

Alex Tuch scored, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 32 saves for the Sabres (25-32-6), who ended a six-game skid (0-5-1).

“[Luukkonen] made some big saves to keep us in it and calm us down a little bit to allow us to get to our game,” Thompson said. “I think once we did that, we were good. … I think once we simplified, kept pucks moving north, put it behind them, get on the forecheck, we started to push them back a little bit, get some of our offense. And I thought we were rock solid through the neutral zone taking away their speed in front of the [defensive] zone. It was pretty good as well. Good defensive effort tonight. And obviously it all starts from ‘Upie’.”

Darnell Nurse and Evan Bouchard scored, and Stuart Skinner made 20 saves for the Oilers (37-23-4), who had won three of four. Leon Draisaitl had two assists to extend his NHL career-high point streak to 15 games (11 goals, 12 assists).

“Turnovers,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “I think we controlled most of the play, I think we had a lot of time in the offensive zone, I think we had more chances. But what we didn't do is just the kind of mistakes that we made, and you look at the turnovers, turnovers that led to scoring chances off the rush. We spent very little time in the defensive zone and I think we've done a pretty good job on that, but just the puck management and giving chances off the rush was big story tonight.”

Thompson gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 13:28 of the first period. Skinner stopped Thompson’s shot from above the left circle, but the forward continued to the net and lifted the rebound stick side past the goaltender.

“It was pretty slow there right off the start, but I thought once we got our feet moving, handled the puck a little bit better, I thought we did a lot of good things,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said.

Nurse tied it 1-1 at 1:35 of the second period with a shot from the right point beat a screened Luukkonen.

“I think, as a team, obviously we’re at a point in the year where a lot of things are driven by results but for us, we want to make sure that we maintain a level head and stay the course of our game,” Nurse said. “But with that said, we come out on a night like this, I think our expectation is to come out most nights and play our game and find a way to win, and we didn’t do enough of that tonight.”

Tuch put the Sabres ahead 2-1 at 3:52 when he took a centering feed from Ryan McLeod and snapped a wrist shot over Skinner’s blocker.

Bouchard tied it 2-2 at 9:12 with a one-timer from the left circle off a pass from Connor McDavidon the power play.

Thompson put Buffalo back in front 3-2 at 3:20 of the third period. Josh Norris, who was acquired in a trade with the Ottawa Senators on Friday, hustled to beat Bouchard to a loose puck in the right circle. Norris then sent a backhand pass over to Thompson, who roofed a shot over Skinner at the left side of the net.

“Great play,” Ruff said. “It was a great skate, and it didn’t look like for a second he was going to get there but he just got to the puck and got it over to ‘Tommer’ and ‘Tommer’ finished.”

NOTES: Draisaitl reached at least 50 assists for the seventh time in his NHL career, tying Mark Messier for fourth in Oilers history, behind McDavid, Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri (all with nine). … McDavid and Draisaitl assisted on the same goal for the 128th time, passing Rod Gilbert and Jean Ratelle (127) for fifth in NHL history. … Nurse tied Charlie Huddy for the second-most goals scored by a defenseman in Oilers history (81). … Buffalo forward Jason Zucker played 13:53 and had one shot on goal in his return after missing six games with a lower-body injury.