LDN - Sports

O'Reilly's red-line goal sparks Sabres' win over Oilers

[October 17, 2016] EDMONTON, Alberta -- Ryan O'Reilly's secret weapon is what he calls the "grenade."

The Buffalo Sabres center launched one in the second period Sunday, and it broke a 2-2 tie and propelled his team to a 6-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place.

At the 3:53 mark of the middle period, O'Reilly lofted a puck from center ice toward the Oilers goal. It bounced left. It bounced right. And it skipped right through goalie Cam Talbot.

The goal was part of O'Reilly's four-point night, but this 100-foot marker wasn't a case of a dump-in that turned into a comedy of errors. O'Reilly said he knew exactly what he was doing.

"Hopefully, I have some more of those," he said. "I was just trying to throw a little garbage at the net and get a good bounce, lucky for me, it did. ... Just (trying) to throw a little grenade at the net, you never know, I had one last year from even further out. It's a tough play. For the goalie, no one knows what is going to happen."

O'Reilly said the fact the ice is choppier at the Oilers' brand-new rink than it was at their old barn, Rexall Place, also helped that puck go in.

"I think when the ice is not as good, it's obviously going to help on those bad bounces," he said.

The goal highlighted a miserable night for Talbot, who gave up six goals on just 23 shots.

"It took a couple of tough bounces coming right down the gut," Talbot said of O'Reilly's long shot. "The first one bounced at the hash marks to my right, so I kind of did a little push over. Then it hit the ice and bounced right back again to my left. No excuses. You have to stop a bouncing shot from the red line."

O'Reilly and Brian Gionta each scored twice. Buffalo goalie Robin Lehner made 31 saves.

"We looked like the Bad News Bears," Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. "We had guys falling all over the place. We didn't execute. Our passing was poor. From the goaltender to the blue line to the forwards, nobody was ready to play."

Kyle Okposo, who missed the opener with a bad knee, made his Sabres debut and got onto the scoresheet just 2:37 into the game, finishing off a nifty pass from center Sam Reinhart. The goal came just seconds after Lehner stretched to make a sensational save on Oilers rookie Jesse Puljujarvi.

"It's nice to get one early like that," Okposo said. "It was a great play all around by my two linemates, and all I had to do was put in the empty cage."

At 7:14 of the first, with the Sabres on the power play, Okposo made a smart pass from the point to O'Reilly, and the Buffalo center obliged by ripping a shot into the roof of the Oilers' net. O'Reilly had pinged a shot off the post earlier in the man advantage.

Buffalo dominated most of the first period, but the home team got life after McLellan juggled the lines, replacing Connor McDavid with Leon Draisaitl on the Oilers' top unit. The coach's gamble paid off -- for a few minutes, at least.

With 2:40 left in the period, Benoit Pouliot directed home a rebound from a Zack Kassian shot.

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Sabres forward Ryan OÕReilly (90) skates during warm-up against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

Then, with 50 seconds left in the period, the Oilers made it 2-2. Milan Lucic put home a rebound from a Draisaitl shot. It was Lucic's 400th career NHL point.

However, the Sabres took back the lead early in the second thanks to the O'Reilly "grenade."

The Sabres restored their two-goal lead midway through the second, as Gionta deflected Jake McCabe's point shot. The play went through two review processes; first, to determine that Gionta didn't use a high stick, and second, to deny McLellan's challenge that Gionta interfered with the goaltender.

After giving up four goals on 15 shots, Talbot was yanked in favor of Jonas Gustavsson. However, Oilers defenseman Adam Larsson collided with Gustavsson late in the second period. As Gustavsson was trying to stop a shot, Larsson fell on top of the goalie.

Gustavsson was down for several minutes but then was yanked during the second intermission because he took a blow to the head.

Just 38 seconds after returning to the game, Talbot gave up the Sabres' fifth goal of the night. Gionta's shot went right through the netminder's legs.

Matt Moulson made it 6-2 with a power-play goal at 4:36 of the third.

NOTES: How potent was the Oilers' offense in the first week of the season? Going into the Sunday game, only five players on Edmonton's active roster who played at least a game each had yet to register a point. ... Sabres RW Kyle Okposo was in the lineup after missing the season opener with a knee injury. ... Buffalo D Dmitry Kulikov made his regular-season debut after missing the opener with a tailbone injury. ... The Oilers beat the Sabres 2-1 in overtime in the teams' most recent meeting, on March 1 in Buffalo. C Connor McDavid scored both Edmonton goals. ... The Sabres called up RW Nicholas Baptiste from their AHL affiliate in Rochester, N.Y., but he was a healthy scratch. Buffalo D Casey Nelson also was scratched. ... The Oilers scratched D Mark Fayne, D Matthew Benning and LW Anton Slepyshev.

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