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Sabres cruise to easy win over Oilers: Recap, Highlights, and Reaction
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Photo credit: © Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Nov 17, 2025, 22:00 ESTUpdated: Nov 17, 2025, 22:09 EST
The Edmonton Oilers might not be a good hockey team.
On Monday evening, they played the fourth of seven games on the road, falling 5-1 to the Buffalo Sabres. Let’s take a look at what went on in this one. Spoiler alert: There wasn’t a lot of good for the Oilers.
The Sabres opened the scoring thanks to a power play late in the first period. Noah Östlund was found all alone in front of Stuart Skinner. After a quick move to his forehand, he was able to beat Stuart Skinner gloveside for the 1-0 lead.
Four and a half minutes into the second period, the Oilers managed to tie the game. Leon Draisaitl found a trailing Jack Roslovic, who ripped it past the Sabres’ netminder. Unfortunately, that was the Oilers’ lone goal this game.
The game-winning goal for the Sabres came midway through the second period, as Tyson Kozak rifled it past a sliding Skinner from the faceoff dot. Just over a minute later, the Sabres extended their lead to 3-1 as Beck Malenstyn was able to tip a point shot past Skinner.
Midway through the third period, the Sabres won an offensive zone faceoff. Östlund took it around the net, got to a high-danger spot, and beat a screened Skinner to put the game out of reach. Tage Thompson buried the empty-netter for the 5-1 lead. Yikes.

Takeaways…

The biggest positive from this game is that Jack Roslovic continues to roll. His goal in the second period was his seventh of the season, bringing him to 15 points in 19 games. Andrew Mangiapane and Leon Draisaitl picked up assists.
Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm were solid; Bouchard finished with a 0 for +/-, while Ekholm was a +1. The other defenders had a brutal game, with Jake Walman being one of the worst skaters on the ice.
Connor McDavid briefly left the game late in the third, but he returned before the end of the game. Unfortunately, his point streak came to an end after eight games. It was one of his worst games of the season, if not the worst, as he had a ton of giveaways.
Vasily Podkolzin fought Peyton Krebs at the end of the second period, just the second fight the Oilers have had this season. At least someone showed that they cared.
Any other skater not mentioned was either unnoticeable or had a poor game. That makes sense, as the Oilers had just five high-danger scoring chances in this game, with the Sabres having 14. In fact, the Oilers gave the Sabres 35 scoring chances in total.
Stuart Skinner finished with four goals allowed on 27 shots for an .852 save percentage, not great. He made some big saves to start the third period, but they needed him to steal a game here. Just a poor performance all around from the Oilers.
Edmonton’s trip from hell continues on Wednesday, as the Oilers head to Washington to take on the Capitals at 5:00 PM MT. So far this road trip, the Oilers are 2-2-0, with both wins coming in overtime.

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. Follow her on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.