Sabres overcome the elements, beat Oilers in OT

EDMONTON, Alberta – Things looked dicey for a bit, but the Buffalo Sabres rolled out of Rogers Place on Tuesday with a 4-3 overtime win over the Edmonton Oilers.

The Oilers overcame a three-goal deficit in the third period, with Connor McDavid tying it at the last second. Buffalo was without two key forwards, Josh Norris and Jason Zucker, and lost starting goaltender Colten Ellis before the first intermission. More calls went against Lindy Ruff’s team, to the coach’s dismay.

After all that, Alex Tuch buried the overtime winner to give the Sabres their third road win of the season and first on this six-game trip.

“We played one hell of a game, and we fought every element out there,” Ruff said. “I just said on the bench, ‘Just stay with it, we’ll win it.’ You’ve got to give the guys a lot of credit.”

To Ruff's point, those elements varied in nature and didn't relent for 60-plus minutes.

Element No. 1: Ellis took a high hit from Oilers forward David Tomasek, forcing his exit after 19 minutes. The rookie netminder is in concussion protocol.

Enter Alex Lyon, who’d played just four periods over the last month. He was tested right away by a point-blank chance from Zach Hyman and turned it aside for his first of 21 saves. On his 33rd birthday, the veteran earned his fourth win of the season.

“He could have every excuse for not playing well,” Ruff said. “He went in and he battled as hard as the rest of the guys.”

“He was huge for us in that game,” added Josh Doan, “and I think it’s awesome – how fired up he was getting off the ice is something that we like to see. He’s a big part of our team.”

Element No. 2: Tage Thompson appeared to extend Buffalo’s lead to 2-0 midway through the second period, but Edmonton challenged and the goal was overturned due to, in the official’s words, a “missed stoppage.” The puck deflected off Tuch’s glove before bouncing to Thompson’s stick. Tuch understood the ruling of a hand pass; Ruff didn’t.

“There’s two hands on his stick,” the coach insisted. “I don’t even think he sees the puck. There’s no hand. There’s no hand off the stick. I don’t know how they come up with hand pass. That boggles me. Somebody has to explain it to me.”

Thompson, who also had a goal overturned Tuesday due to offsides, took matters into his own hands less than two minutes later, stealing the puck from Evan Bouchard and burying his team-leading 14th goal. He immediately pointed toward the net: good goal.

“Back-to-back nights, two disallowed goals – it’s not ideal, but it is what it is,” said Thompson, who also tallied two assists. “Out of your control, so all you can do is try to score another one. Thankfully, I did.”

Element No. 3: Off the third period’s opening faceoff, an Oilers dump-in should’ve been called for icing. Instead, McDavid raced in, stole the puck and scored to spark Edmonton’s three-goal comeback.

“When a guy’s five feet from center ice and we don’t get an icing call, there’s no reason,” Ruff said. “I mean, it’s not even close. It’s just icing, and you’ve got to call it. And it gave them life.”

An unlucky bounce set up McDavid’s last-second tying goal, forcing the Sabres to continue battling for a second point. Three-on-three overtime is no walk in the park when facing McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Bouchard, so Tuch and Ryan McLeod schemed up a path to puck possession.

“Clouder told me to go,” Tuch explained. “He was gonna shoot it down the ice. That was a plan that we had, trying to put them back on their heels a little bit. He thought that I could maybe, especially with their defenseman moving so far up, beat [Bouchard] off the line. I was just able to strip the puck, and we had possession from there.”

After a regroup in the neutral zone, McLeod drew Edmonton’s star skaters toward the wall and found Tuch, uncovered, for the game winner.

The Sabres, whose road struggles this season are well documented, kept alive their chance at a .500 trip. And the way this one unfolded, like many of their 12 wins, showed their ability to overcome some serious obstacles.

“It’s a huge win for us,” Thompson said. “We’ve had by no means an easy season altogether. (We've) faced a lot of adversity, but I think that builds character, makes you stronger as a team – it just depends how you face it. I thought we handled tonight really well.”

Here’s more from the nailbiter in Edmonton.

Doan dominates PP1

Buffalo’s first and third goals came from a net-front Doan on the power play. On the first, late in the opening period, he flashed his hand-eye coordination by deflecting a Rasmus Dahlin point shot.

On the second, Doan executed one of the sweetest moves you’ll see, dragging the puck between his legs and flipping in his 10th goal of the season.

“That’s a first, I think,” the winger said. “You try that kind of thing in practice and see what happens.

“… I think that’s something I’ve got to continue to build on, and a part of my game that in the offseason was a focal point: being someone that can create offense for us and be a good presence around the net on the power play. And tonight was a good example.”

The Sabres now have seven power-play goals in the last five games – their best five-game stretch since December 2022. Consistent personnel helped the man advantage heat up, and even without Zucker and Norris on Tuesday, the top unit kept that going,

“Power plays are streaky,” Thompson said. “I think we’re starting to get some chemistry, starting to find what works for us right now. And we’re riding the hot hand right now. Just got to keep doing those things that are getting us this success.”

Norris’ status

Norris was scratched from Buffalo’s lineup due to both illness and soreness. The soreness is unrelated to his previous upper-body injury.

“We had a report he wasn’t feeling well, and then in warmup he tweaked something, and that was the point we had to take him out of the game,” Ruff said.

• Injuries and transactions | Full reports on Ellis, Norris, Zucker

Josh Dunne entered the lineup and skated 7:45. Isak Rosen, replacing Zucker (upper and lower body) on the third line, played 9:05.

Up next

The Sabres continue on to Vancouver for a Thursday-night matchup with the Canucks. Puck drop is scheduled for 10 p.m. EST, with MSG’s pregame coverage beginning at 9:30.

“We had a great game tonight, but time to turn the page,” Thompson said. “Enjoy it a little bit, but get ready for another hard game.”