Sabres-Oilers: Buffalo Coasts Over Edmonton

The Edmonton Oilers apparently were still on the All-Star break Tuesday night when the Sabres came into town.

The Oilers were outplayed 100 percent, to the point that by the end of the game, the crowd was cheering against them.

The puck dropped at center ice, and Edmonton controlled.

A quick turnover led to Drew Stafford's first goal 10 seconds into the game.

The Sabres continued pressure with a good pass from Clarke MacArthur to Nathan Paetsch for a 2-0 lead just 1:11 into the game.

It was all over from the beginning.

Little did we know how over it was.

The Sabres added another tally with 9:43 left in the first by Derek Roy's point-filled stick. This prompted the replacement of Dwayne Roloson (three goals on eight shots) with Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers, much to the approval of the crowd.

The teams played out the rest of the first with a little resurgence from the Oilers, and left the period 3-0 Sabres. The boos rained down from the stands as the players left the ice.

The Second period started much in the way of the first. Just 2:02 in Jochen Hecht scored for a 4-0 lead. The Oilers finally answered back with one of their own at 13:23 of the second with a quick snap shot by Erik Cole under the right arm of Miller to bring it back to 4-1.

The Sabres did not seemingly take this lightly. They scored three more in the final 6:37 of the second period. One on the power play by Tim Connolly, one by Thomas Vanek, and one by Jaroslav Spacek. It was 7-1 at the end of two.

The crowd cheered this time when the players left the ice, simply because they didn't have to watch the atrocity of it all for another 15 minutes.

The third period saw the same old song and dance from the first two stanzas. Drew Stafford notched his second on the power play for an 8-1 lead. Just 1:18 later, Stafford potted his third goal of the night for his second career hat trick.

Robert Nilsson deked Ryan Miller for a meaningless goal to bring it to 9-2. That wasn't what the crowd wanted however. They were cheering "We want 10! We want 10!" They would get it by way of a short-handed goal by Tim Connolly for a 10-2 rout.

Notes

First Star: Drew Stafford (three goals, plus-two); Second Star: Thomas Vanek (one goal, two assists, plus-two); Third Star: Derek Roy (one goal [GWG], two assists, plus-two).

Drew Stafford's uncle, Barrie Stafford, was in attendance, on the Edmonton bench. Barrie cracked a smile when his nephew scored his third of the night. 

Stafford said, "It was pretty ironic. I was pretty nervous before the game. You don't get too hyped up and look into things too much, but this one was special for me, it was my first time here playing in front of my uncle seeing me live. Growing up and hanging out with him and that team, it was pretty special, pretty unique."

Marc-Andre Gragnani was recalled from Portland for the first time this season. He logged 12:48 of ice time, a +2 rating and a hit.