Buffalo Sabres Opponent Outlook: Edmonton Oilers

By Melissa Kania |

Last season as the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres faced each other, many called it the “Battle for the Tank,” the Battle for McDavid, etc. Either way you spin it, the Sabres and Oilers were two of the worst teams in the league, both seemingly ‘competing’ for that first-overall draft pick. This season, however, with the likes of McDavid and Eichel in their ranks, the Oilers and Sabres are two totally different teams – and one can only assume the meetings between them will be quite different.

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As we all know, the Edmonton Oilers struggled last season, just like the Sabres. They finished third-worst in the league with 62 points on the season, going 24-44-14 overall. The team’s minus-85 goal differential was third-worst in the league, behind only Arizona and Buffalo. The Oilers went 15-23-3 at home and won just nine of 41 road games. They won five of 12 shootouts.

All of that combined was enough to give the Oilers a chance at the coveted first overall draft pick which, of course, they got. With that, in comes Connor McDavid to join the ranks of highly-touted prospects in the Oilers organization. McDavid joins guys like Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov and co. on an Oilers team that really should be better this season, especially when you take into consideration the sheer amount of young talent they’ll have on their roster.

In other roster news, Matt Fraser is gone from the Oilers, signed with Winnipeg, as is goaltender Richard Bachman, who signed with the Vancouver Canucks. Incoming: forward Mark Letestu and former Buffalo Sabres defenseman Andrej Sekera, who signed with the Oilers after leaving the Los Angeles Kings organization.

Meanwhile, Tyler Pitlick and Brandon Davidson re-signed with the Oilers organization.

Last season, the Oilers and Sabres met twice, with Edmonton taking both of the games by 3-2 decisions.

The first meeting, a November 7th game in Buffalo, saw the Oilers put up 52 shots on goal en route to the victory. Iiro Pakarinen, Mark Arcobello and Boyd Gordon scored for the Oilers, while Teddy Purcell had a pair of assists. Matt Moulson and Drew Stafford scored for Buffalo.

Michal Neuvirth had 49 saves.

A few months later, the teams met again – this time at Rexall Place. Tyler Myers and Rasmus Ristolainen scored for the Sabres, but it wasn’t enough to muster up a victory.

Matt Fraser, Oscar Klefbom and Anton Lander all scored in the win, which gave Buffalo its 13-game losing streak, the longest in franchise history.

This year, things will be different (right?), but the NHL will have to wait until Sunday, December 6th to see the coveted “Eichel vs. McDavid” faceoff – that’s the first time these teams meet. They’ll face off at 8 p.m. EST that night, a Sunday, at Rexall Place in Edmonton. The teams will then face off in Buffalo on Tuesday, March 1st in what is sure to be one the highest-attended Oilers games in Buffalo in several years.

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