After some dramatic, high-intensity battles with Vancouver and a public feud with the NHL, facing off against a nondescript cellar dweller from the Eastern Conference is an understandable letdown.
And it showed for most of Saturday afternoon’s anticlimactic run-in with the Buffalo Sabres.
The lowly Sabres, starting backup goalie James Reimer (1-6-1 on the season) gave Edmonton all it could handle and then some. Edmonton trailed 1-0 in the first period, 2-1 in the second and were outshot 19-7 in the third as they hung on for a too-close-for-comfort 3-2 decision.
It wasn’t pretty, but it was all the Oilers needed to plant their flag at the top of the Pacific Division standings. Their season-long quest to undo the damage of October and win their division is far from over, but Saturday afternoon was a shining symbolic victory — even if the actual victory over Buffalo looked a little mangy.
“That’s the goal, right?” goaltender Stuart Skinner said of sliding into first place for the first time since Dec. 1, 2021. “We’ve still got a lot of hockey to be played, but it’s huge to get first place.
“We have such a tight division that it’s still anyone’s game. We have to keep playing well. There’s some good teams that are going to be trying to climb the standings for sure. Things start to tighten up in the last half of the season.”
First in the Pacific, second in the Western Conference and third in the NHL. That’s a pretty nice way to wrap up a Saturday.
“It is nice to see that,” said Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who led the way with two goals in Edmonton’s win. “There’s a long way to go and obviously the job’s not finished here. We can keep getting better, but after the start we had, we should not be satisfied, but happy with how far we have come.”
Mopping up the Sabres wasn’t easy, as it turned out. In fact, if Skinner wasn’t the best player on the ice the Oilers would be having to explain how they somehow managed to choke on cotton candy.
“I think we thought we were going to cruise through the game,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “We did a lot at the start of the game (jumped out to 8-0 lead in shots) and then we let them take over. They definitely executed better then we did in the second half of the game.
“We just relaxed. We thought it was going to be an easy game and we didn’t play our best.”
Skinner, with a 39-save performance, prevented this night from heading straight into the ditch. Edmonton gave up 15 shots in the first 10 minutes of the second period and 19 shots in the third and only gave up one goal.
“We leaned on him heavy tonight, probably a little too heavy,” said Nugent-Hopkins. “We knew coming in that if you give these guys any life they’re going to run with it. They’re a bunch of young, skilled players who can make you pay. Stu did a great job. We found a way to win. Obviously we can be better, but we’ll take those two points.”
The points are all that matter right now. The Oilers flourished during a couple of brutally-hard stretches — going 4-1 against Tampa, Minnesota, Vegas, Florida and Boston and 6-2 in their recent eight-game, eight-city tour of North America.
Now it’s time to put some money in the bank against some of the league’s weaker sisters — a run of Vancouver, Buffalo, Seattle, and Detroit before a heavyweight showdown with the Toronto Maple Leafs next Saturday.
So far they’re 2-0 after whipping the Canucks and edging the Sabres. With the Golden Knights and L.A. Kings breathing down their necks, the Oilers can’t let any of these winnable games slip away because the stakes this year are higher than ever.
Waging war with the Kings in the first round and then opening the second round on the road in Vegas is a lot scarier than opening against a wild-card team and then hosting what’s left of either Vegas or L.A. in round two.
“I know it was a goal of ours to win our division,” said Knoblauch. “Just rewinding back to last year’s playoffs, what a difficult road we had. We started at home but the next three series, we were on the road.
“This is the possibility of making that road a little easier on us, whether it’s shortening a series or having home ice in a Game 7 situation. We fortunate enough to win one Game 7 on the road but we didn’t win the other one. It just helps you along the way to finish at the top.”
E-mail: [email protected]