Edmonton got goals from four different players while Anders Nilsson turned aside 32 of 34 shots en route to a third consecutive victory. The Sabres got on the board seven minutes in when Jack Eichel scored his ninth goal of the year. The Oilers scored three in the next nine minutes when Teddy Purcell, Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall (PP) each netted one. Ryan O'Reilly made it interesting for the Sabres when he scored a power play goal of his own, but Luke Gazdic (!) scored his first goal of the season when he crashed the net four minutes later. The Oilers emerged victorious, knocking the Sabres off their three game winning streak.
The Oilers are winners of three straight. The Sharks are in town tonight. Let's go to the tape.
That's Oilers head coach Todd McLellan on goaltender Anders Nilsson. Nilsson has been turning aside nearly everything these days.
Nilsson's season SV% is sitting pretty at .922. There's a ton of hockey left to be played, but it's the Swede on a one year deal who 's doing the legwork for the Oilers for much of this season.
The opponents are saying
"He's obviously pushing to get back in, and I give him a lot of courage for coming out and doing that.
That's Sharks coach Peter DeBoeur on Sharks centre Logan Couture, who saw his first action in Calgary after missing thirteen games with a fractured fibula. Couture finished with an assist.
The Sharks are no doubt happy to have Couture back in the lineup, as they rank right in the middle (15th) in goals scored this year. Couture finished last season with 67 points (27-40-67).
LINEUP NOTES - Davidson-Gryba sounds like a law firm, something they may want to keep handy after all the felonies that are going to happen on the right side of the ice tonight. Woof. Jujhar Khaira getting the bump to the second line. 4-29-16 need to score about 7 goals tonight. Let's move on.
FAYNE ON WAIVERS - Eric Gryba still on the club. For my next trick, I'll trade my best defenceman for two draft picks in some upcoming drafts. With all of the front-office movement this past offseason, I can't think that this is the prevailing opinion of supposedly smart hockey people. Maybe there's something else behind the curtain. Maybe it just stinks.
Anders Nilsson (8-7-1, .922 SV% / 2.42 GAA) will start for Edmonton again, as he should. He's killing it from every angle right now. The Sharks look like they'll go with Alex Stalock (2-4-0, .891 SV% / 2.95 GAA) and give Martin Jones (12-9-0, .920 SV% / 2.28 GAA / 3 SO) a night off after a less than satisfying performance from Jones in Calgary last night. Martin Jones (12-9-0, .920 SV% / 2.28 GAA / 3 SO).
Connor McDavid (clavicle), Nail Yakupov (ankle), Andrew Ference (undisclosed), Rob Klinkhammer (lower body) and Benoit Pouliot (lower body) will be missing from action tonight. For the Sharks, Ben Smith (concussion), Marc-Edouard Vlasic (lower body) and Raffi Torres (suspension) are out.
