PREVIEW: Oilers at Sabres

The Edmonton Oilers continue their seven-game road trip with a visit to KeyBank Center on Monday night to take on the Buffalo Sabres.

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PREVIEW: Oilers at Sabres

BUFFALO, NY – Just keep finding a way.

The Edmonton Oilers will continue their seven-game road trip on Monday against the Buffalo Sabres, looking to keep picking up points in any way possible after Zach Hyman made his season debut in a 4-3 overtime victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.

"We're just scrapping and clawing our way through the first quarter here, and we're getting points on the board," said Connor McDavid.

"That's all that matters."

Jack Roslovic and Connor McDavid scored in the opening 6:30 into the first period to give the Oilers a 2-0 lead before the Hurricanes put them on the defensive until the end of the middle frame, outshooting Edmonton 16-6 in the second and getting goals from Eric Robinson and Nikolaj Ehlers to tie it up.

McDavid notched his second of the night off a passing play with Zach Hyman and Leon Draisaitl 5:46 into the third, giving the Oilers back the lead at 3-2 before Eric Staal responded just 27 seconds later. Edmonton would head to overtime for a league-leading ninth time this season, where their Dynamic Duo did what they had to do by combining to score just 19 seconds into sudden death to finish their nights with three points each.

McDavid dropped it to Draisaitl coming over the blueline, and the German delivered the quick snap shot over the right pad of goalie Frederik Andersen, lifting the Oilers to a 4-3 victory after the captain's fast break that led to the game-winning goal started behind their net on the stick of Evan Bouchard.

"Honestly, I think we've had better years at three-on-three," McDavid said. "Our little three-man group there, we've had lots of opportunities and lots of games going into overtime where we haven't been able to be the difference in a lot of nights. That's what we get paid to do: we get paid to be the difference.

"Tonight, we were able to do that. We've got lots of experience playing three-on-three. We enjoy it. I'm playing with two special players out there, so it's always exciting."

After missing the first 19 games and making his season debut on Saturday, Zach Hyman picked up where he left off from last season's Stanley Cup Playoffs, where he had 111 hits in 15 games before suffering a season-ending wrist injury on a hit from Mason Marchment in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final.

Hyman assisted on McDavid's second goal and finished the night with a team-high 11 hits in 23:10 of ice time, playing the second most among Oilers forwards in the victory, after getting the vote of confidence from Head Coach Kris Knoblauch for some extra opportunities coming off his long absence.

"He said after the game that he was just picking up right where he left off in the playoffs," Knoblauch said. "He also told me that his legs were feeling great, so he played 20-plus minutes tonight, and it was not an easy task for a guy who hasn't played for several months."

"It's just great to see him," McDavid added. "Great to see him playing despite a significant injury, and I got to see him work his way back, and it wasn't always easy. It never is. Sometimes people forget the human side of it. It's an emotional thing to go through a significant injury like that, so to see him back and playing and healthy and moving really well, it's definitely uplifting for our group."

With a 9-7-4 record, the Oilers now look ahead to their meeting at KeyBank Center with the Sabres, who showed desperation coming back from a three-goal deficit to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday to come away with a 5-4 overtime win that Mattias Samuelsson capped off at three-on-three.

“We’ve been losing a lot of games, and it’s frustrating, and we know no one’s gonna sit there and feel sorry for us,” Tage Thompson said. “I think we just tried to impose our will there and knew that if we got one early, put them on their heels a little bit, we could get some momentum rolling. And we did.”

Detroit scored three times in five minutes of the second period to take a 4-1 lead, but the Sabres rallied from three goals down for the first time since November 2018 for a much-needed win after losing five games in a row, scoring twice in the third that included a shorthanded equalizer from Ryan McLeod.

Defenceman Rasmus Dahlin had been personal leave in Sweden and returned on Saturday to skate a team-high 25:38 with two assists, and the Sabres were desperately missing their captain's presence and impact from the blueline.

“It’s a big loss when our captain and our best player is out of the lineup,” Thompson said. “He’s an impact player, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence we got the job done tonight with him.”