Oilers blow Sabres out of the water

Buffalo Sabres vs Edmonton Oilers 0-6 (0-2, 0-0, 0-4)

Edmonton had yet to win in the pre-season, but kept on sending their inexperienced players out there. Power forward Austin Watson had been bumped up a line due to his amazing scrimmage game yesterday, while Krysanov, Hartikainen, Brule and Catenacci got their first taste of pre-season action this year.

Edmonton came out in the same style as they had in the previous pre-season matches, with speedy and direct hockey. It proved an effective strategy against a rather slow Sabres defense that kept taking hooking and holding minors. Pääjärvi managed to tally the 1-0 goal on the third man advantage of the game, after which Gagner scored on a brilliant one timer from Pääjärvi's pass. Jon Merrill got the Oilers in some late trouble with his double-minor, but the PK valiantly kept the Sabres rookies (and veterans) out.

The Oilers kept the Sabres under fairly good control and head coach Constantine allowed himself to shuffle the line numbers during the second, giving the bottom 6 units more ice time against better opposition. No goals came of the changes in the middle frame, but fans were keenly watching players like Austin Watson, Anton Krysanov and Teemu Hartikainen do well with their increased minutes.

Edmonton went for the jugular in the third, adding a total of four more goals. Jack Skille and Lubomir Visnovsky first tallied a goal each on consecutive power plays. Buffalo managed to settle the game's pace a bit, but error-prone defensemen allowed Pääjärvi and O'Sullivan to score additional goals to sink the heavy Sabres.

Post game: "We were exactly how competitive and aggressive as I think we need to be, in all types of games, in order to become a winning team" general manager Kowalski stated upon the completion of the game. Swedish power forward Pääjärvi was truly excellent in the game, scoring when on the top line matched against checking players, scoring when he was up against the other team's top lines. Jack Skille and Gilbert Brule, who both struggled in the NHL last season, were solid. Defensively there were few problems. Merrill added two assists, while Visnovsky earned the second star of the game with a 1+1 performance. Austin Watson continued his good form by scoring 3 assists!


Scoreboard
1st Period:
EDM - Pääjärvi (Gagner, Merrill) PP
EDM - Gagner (Pääjärvi, Brule)

2nd Period:
-

3rd Period:
EDM - Skille (Krysanov, Watson) PP
EDM - Visnovsky (Watson, Peckham) PP
EDM - Pääjärvi (Merrill, Visnovsky)
EDM - O'Sullivan (Watson, Krysanov)


Lines:
Cogliano - Rask - Skille
Pääjärvi - Gagner - Brule
Watson - Krysanov - O'Sullivan
Axelsson - Catenacci - Hartikainen

Babchuk - Fowler
Merrill - Visnovsky
Peckham - Plante

Hiller
(Roy)