EDMONTON -- Not many teams have managed to make the Buffalo Sabres look good this season, but the Edmonton Oilers found a way to do it on Thursday. Cory Conacher had two goals and an assist as the Sabres snapped a lengthy seven-game losing skid, emerging with a 3-1 victory over the Oilers in a battle between the teams with the worst records in the NHL. Drew Stafford also scored for the Sabres (20-42-8) who had been outscored 21-6 in their previous seven losses. "It was huge," Stafford said. "The way that this year has gone and the challenges we have gone through, we will take any win at this point, regardless of who it is against. That was one of our more complete efforts. "We had some discipline issues, but had a great PK. We also had more than one goal, which is big. Getting a 3-1 lead, Im not sure I can remember the last time we had a comfortable lead like that where we could lock in our system and take over the game." Sabres head coach Ted Nolan said his team earned the two points on the night as they ran their road record to just 8-22-3. "It is good to finally play a half decent game," he said. "When you lose, you get what you deserve, and we have been getting what we deserved. We werent playing very well, but tonight we got what we deserved." Conacher scored his first goal as a Sabre since being claimed on waivers from Ottawa at the trade deadline, and his first goal overall since Dec. 28. "It was refreshing," he said. "Ive already had to get the monkey off my back once before this year, and it feels like it came off again tonight. Maybe this was the game I needed to open the floodgates a bit. The most important part was getting the win, though. Taylor Hall responded for the Oilers (25-37-9) who saw a two-game winning streak end. The Oilers, now 10-5-3 in their last 18 games, are in second-last behind the Sabres. "You look at some games on the schedule and you think, oh, its going to be an easy night, but Ive learned in this league that anything can happen," Hall said. "Whether youre playing the St Louis Blues or Buffalo, you have to come in with the same mind-set. "It doesnt matter what place theyre in or anything, every game is hard and just because we lost to the team behind us doesnt mean were going to come to the rink and sulk tomorrow. As long as the work ethic is there and the battle and the compete ... as long as we have that, were proud." Oilers captain Andrew Ference said his team just didnt seem to have that second effort that has seen them come back in games of late. "Weve been able to take the tempo of game and take control of the third period recently and we just didnt do that tonight," he said. "Their second goal was just putting the puck to the net and it didnt seem as though we responded as well as weve had in the last two weeks. "We just lacked that extra couple of notches on the dial tonight." Little happened for the bulk of the first period, save for a spirited scrap between Edmontons Luke Gazdic and Buffalos Zenon Konopka. Edmonton had numerous chances on the power play late in the first, including posts hit by Justin Schultz and Hall, before the two connected for a man-advantage goal on Buffalo goalie Matt Hacket, who was making his first start of the season for the Sabres. Schultz made a quick pass to Hall in the centre of the right faceoff circle and he blew a one-timer past Hacket with two minutes left in the first period for his 24th goal of the season. Hacket was recently called up from Rochester of the AHL with normal goalies Jhonas Enroth and Michal Neuvirth out with injuries. The Sabres tied the game with a power-play goal of their own just before the midway point of the second period as Conacher was able to tip a Jamie McBain point shot past Oilers goalie Ben Scrivens. Buffalo took a 2-1 lead 1:09 into the third period as a soft Schultz clearing attempt was intercepted by Torrey Mitchell and his shot on net was once again tipped past Scrivens by Conacher for his second of the game and sixth of the season. The Sabres took a two-goal lead five minutes into the third as Scrivens was down and out on a rebound that came back to Stafford, who scored his fifth goal in the last seven games. Hacket made 35 saves for the victory in the Buffalo net. The Oilers play the third game of a six-game homestand on Saturday against the Calgary Flames. The Sabres play the third game of a five-game road trip on Sunday in Vancouver. Notes: It was the second of a pair of meetings between the Oilers and Sabres this season. Edmonton won the first game 3-2 on Feb. 3a In their seven losses before facing the Oilers, only two Sabres players recorded goals - Drew Stafford (four goals) and Tyler Ennis (two goals)a Hacket became the fourth goalie used by Buffalo in the last four gamesa Both teams were fairly banged up for the game. Notable absences for the Oilers included forwards Jordan Eberle (knee) and Nail Yakupov (ankle), while the Sabres were without defencemen Tyler Myers (elbow) and Alexander Sulzer (upper body) and forwards Chris Stewart (ankle) and Zemgus Girgensons (lower body). Pelicans Jersey .Y. - Dustin Tokarski stopped all 43 shots he faced as the Hamilton Bulldogs blanked the host Syracuse Crunch 3-0 on Saturday in American Hockey League action. Austin Rivers Authentic Jersey . Kingsbury, from Deux-Montagnes, Que., won gold with a score of 26.93, while Bilodeau, from Montreal, took silver with 26.54. Japans Sho Endo (25.24) placed third. http://www.shoppelicansonline.com/Authentic-Ryan-Anderson-Pelicans-Jersey/ . Olivieri, at city hall to help kick off ticket sales for the Aug. 5-24 event to be held in four Canadian cities, said Wednesday that Canada has a new generation of talent on the rise that can make its name just as Sinclair did at the same event in 2002 in Edmonton. Anthony Davis Pelicans Jersey . First reported by FOX Sports Ken Rosenthal, its unknown if the impetus for the deferral proposal came from players or management, but it never left the preliminary stages. Omer Asik Authentic Jersey . The St. Louis Cardinals were scheduled to arrive in Boston in time for a workout on Tuesday afternoon. Much of Mondays discussion focused on Bostons lineup considerations as the series progresses, specifically when the venue shifts to St.TRENTINO, Italy -- Brendan Bottcher of Sherwood Park, Alta., and his rink from the University of Alberta continued their four-game winning streak at the 26th Winter Universiade by defeating Koreas Chang Min Kim 7-6 on Saturday. Bottcher, with Michael Lizmore, Brad Thiessen, Karrick Martin and alternate Parker Konschuh, led 5-2 at the half-way point, but Kim scored three points in the seventh end to tie the game at 6-6. Canada blanked the next two ends and scored the winning single in the tenth to remain at the top of the leaderboard, tied with Swedens Oskar Eriksson with 4-0 records. Canada will face Italy and Czech Republic, both with 1-3 records, on Sunday. In womens curling, Laura Crocker and her Wilfrid Laurier University rink are still looking for a second win at the Winter Universiade curling tournament. Crocker lost to Great Britains Hannah Fleming 7-5 in Saturday morning action, before dropping an 8-5 decision to Anna Sidorova of Russia in the evening.dddddddddddd Canadas 1-4 record is tied with the U.S., and ahead of China and host Italy. Canada will face a winless China in their only game on Sunday. On the slopes, Philippe Rivet of St. Lambert. Que., was the lone Canadian to participate in the mens Super G. He posted a time of 1 minute, 25.26 seconds to finish 26th out of 59 competitors. In the cross-country skiing sprint events, no Canadians advanced to the semifinal round. The top finisher for Canada in the womens 7.5 kilometre race was Camille Pepin of St. Ferreol les Neiges, Que., who placed 32nd. On the mens side, Harry Seaton of Orillia, Ont., completed the 10 km event in 25th place. cheap nfl jerseys ' ' '
