It hasn’t been easy, but it is now one, two, three for the Edmonton Oilers.
After a tough start to the season in the wake of losing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final to the Florida Panthers, the Oilers came away with a narrow 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday that left them sitting in first in the Pacific Division, second in the Western Conference and third overall in the NHL with a record of 31-15-3.
“It’s huge to get first place,” said Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner, who made 39 saves for the win, 35 of those coming in the final 40 minutes.
“We’ve still got a lot of hockey to be played. We have such a tight division that it’s still anyone’s game, the points are so close. For us the mindset has got to be, obviously it’s great to be in first place, but let’s try to get some more points here and keep playing the same way that we’ve been playing and hopefully we can run with it a little bit.
“The way that we’ve been playing, it says a lot about the group and how mature we are and how much mental resiliency we have.”
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Edmonton is one point up on the idle Vegas Golden Knights in the Pacific Division, and four points behind the Western Conference-leading Winnipeg Jets.
The Oilers, who had an 0-3 start to the season before finding their form, have now won 10 of their last 13.
“Obviously it is our goal to keep racking up points and get as high as we possibly can,” said Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who led the way with two goals against the Sabres.
“It is nice to see that. There’s a long way to go and obviously the job’s not finished here. We can keep getting better, but after the start we had, we should not be satisfied, but happy with how far we have come.”
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said last year’s playoffs showed the importance of having home-ice advantage in a series.
“This is the possibility of making that road a little easier on us, whether it’s shortening a series or having home ice in a Game 7 situation — we were fortunate enough to win one Game 7 on the road, but we didn’t win the other one,” he said. “It just helps you along the way to finish at the top.”
Edmonton went 2-1 without the services of captain and star forward Connor McDavid, who served the final game of a three-game suspension for cross-checking Vancouver’s Conor Garland a week ago.
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