GAME RECAP: Oilers 6, Sabres 1

EDMONTON, AB - The Oilers secured their fourth straight victory and improved to 34-23-4 on the season with a commanding 6-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres at Rogers Place on St. Patrick's Day.
Multi-point efforts from Connor McDavid, Kailer Yamamoto, Zach Hyman, Cody Ceci and Tyson Barrie led the way for the Oilers, along with a 27-save performance from Mike Smith, who returned to the crease for the first time since Mar. 5 and earned his first victory in a month.
Yamamoto set a new career-high for points with a two-point night, scoring in his fourth straight game, while McDavid's goal and assist makes it four multi-point games in a row and four-straight home games with a goal for the Oilers captain as part of a line with Yamamoto and Evander Kane that's combined for 19 points in their last four games.
Leon Draisaitl notched his 40th goal of the season in the victory, and Devin Shore has goals in back-to-back games after adding a shorthanded goal.

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FIRST BLOOD

The yams have been coming in bunches as of late. Yamamoto took a short pass from McDavid through the legs of Buffalo defenceman Rasmus Dahlin and one-time sniped the opening goal over the glove of 41-year-old netminder Craig Anderson, who had no chance at stopping the 23-year-old from burying his 15th goal of the season and fourth goal in four games.
Yamamoto's line with McDavid and Kane controlled the first period for Edmonton, and the Spokane, Wash. product set a new career-high in points with 27 (15G, 12A) when he got the helper on McDavid's 34th of the campaign.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Draisaitl notched his 40th tally of the campaign on the second attempt for the German off an offensive-zone draw, getting one whack at the puck in front of Anderson before taking a push to the back from Sabres forward Alex Tuch and still having the ability to slide it past the netminder while flying through the air.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Anderson was under siege all night in the Sabres crease, but the veteran netminder sprawled out and made an incredible desperation right-pad stop in the second period on Hyman after the Oilers winger scooped a loose puck in front and only had to lift it over the outstretched leg of Anderson to make it a five-goal game.
Anderson and Smith combined in a goaltending duel 'for the ages' on Thursday night with a combined age of 80.86 years or 29,515 days. The Buffalo netminder is the NHL's oldest goaltender at 41 years old, while Smith celebrates his 40th birthday next week on Tuesday when the Oilers visit the Dallas Stars.

PLAYER OF THE GAME

The line of 91-97-56 shares the honours for splitting five points between them, including Yamamoto and McDavid posting two-point nights and Kane adding a single assist. The trio has been lights out for the Oilers in recent games, showing great chemistry and connection to produce 19 points over their last four games together.

PARTING WORDS

Barrie on the Oilers protecting their lead in a complete effort tonight against the Sabres:
"I think it was exactly that. It was a full 60 minutes and maybe as good a game we've played all year. After two periods, we realized we had played a pretty solid game up to that point. We made a point of coming out and drilling home that last 20 to show us what it feels like to play the full game."
Barrie on Hyman's performance protecting the puck, driving play and collecting two assists:
"Just when it looks like there are three guys on him, he finds a way to outwork them all. That's why he was so coveted and teams wanted him. We were lucky to get him. The thing about Hyms is he's playing the same way every night and you can rely on him. He's a guy you can count on and he's been great this year. It's a big part of the year and this is where you want to have a guy like him on your team."

Hyman on the return of players to the lineup and the team getting close to full health:
"Obviously Nuge is a huge piece. Every part of the game he plays: even strength, powerplay, penalty kill. He's a huge player for us. We're excited to get him back when he's ready. But it's definitely exciting to have everyone back. I don't think we've had everybody back since Kaner's been here, so it's nice to get close to it and be playing well when that's happening."
Coach Woodcroft on what impressed him the most about tonight's full-team performance:
"I thought we got contributions from everybody -- all four lines, three D pairs, Mike Smith was excellent, the penalty kill was good and we got a short-handed goal and scored a power-play goal. All facets of the game seemed to be firing on all cylinders, and because we had everybody going we were able to spread the minutes out nicely tonight."

Coach Woodcroft on the success of the Kane - McDavid - Yamamoto line:
"You have the sped element and the puck-handling element with Connor coming through the neutral zone and what he can do in the offensive zone. I don't think he's getting enough credit for what he's doing defensively. He makes a lot of really subtle good plays in his own zone; stops on pucks and had good box-outs tonight as well. You have someone with a dog-on-a-bone kind of mindset in Yamamoto and someone who wins pucks and 50/50 battles all over the rink. Then, you add the size and skill of Evander Kane.
"I think it has the elements or recipe of a good line, and they've been playing well together. A few weeks ago we flipped the centres and we've got some good responses from everyone involved, so that line's been a heck of a line for us and they continue to pace us."