The Edmonton Oilers stormed back from an early deficit to blast the Buffalo Sabres 8-3 at Rogers Place on Thursday (March 21). Mattias Ekholm and Zach Hyman each scored twice for the Oilers, who also got goals from Connor Brown, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan McLeod, and Darnell Nurse. Oilers captain Connor McDavid had four assists, and Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner made 26 saves in the win.
Edmonton fell behind 2-0 in the first period and trailed 3-2 late in the second frame before erupting for six unanswered goals, including five in the final period. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, a number of Oilers found themselves making moves in the record books with their numbers on Thursday. Here’s a look at those most significant stats from Edmonton’s victory over the Sabres.
On one shot Thursday night, Nurse moved in front of Hall-of-Fame defenceman Kevin Lowe on two different Oilers all-time leaders lists.
Nurse, who has spent his entire NHL career with the Oilers, scored at 4:38 of the third period to break a 3-3 tie and put the Oilers up for good. It was his 75th career goal and turned out to be his 12th career game-winning goal, both of which are one more than Lowe totalled as a member of the Oilers.
The 29-year-old Nurse now ranks third in franchise history for most goals by a defenceman, trailing Paul Coffey (209) and Charlie Huddy (81), and second in Oilers history for most game-winning goals by a blueliner, behind only Hall-of-Famer Coffey (19). Lowe had 74 goals, 11 of which were game-winners, over his 15 seasons (1979-80 to 1991-92 and 1996-97 to 1997-98) with the Oilers.
