Nurse: 'No moral victories' for Oilers amid 1-2 start

The Edmonton Oilers are off to a slower start than the team expected after falling to 1-2 with a 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.

With the Oilers coming off their best season in more than 30 years, defenceman Darnell Nurse said the standards are high as the team seeks their fourth straight playoff berth,

"Anytime you lose, there is no satisfaction in this room, there are no moral victories," Nurse said. "We are not happy being 1-2 to start the year. We can say all we want, but we have got to come out and show it on the ice.

"We made a lot about the need to have a good start to the game, and I thought our start was better than the first two [games]."

The Oilers won their opening game 5-3 over the Vancouver Canucks last week before falling 4-3 to the Calgary Flames on Saturday. The team has three games remaining in their six-game homestand to open the campaign.

“We don't want to be sitting at 1-2, but that being said, I don't think there's any need to panic,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said. “This group knows how important starts are – not only to games, but to the season – and we haven't had our best for the first three. But I would expect our best is coming here.”

Comrie shuts down Oilers

Edmonton outshot the Sabres 48-24, but were repeatedly denied by goaltender Eric Comrie, who put on a show in his hometown.

Playing on his fourth team in four seasons, Comrie has a career save percentage of .907, but posted a .958 mark on Tuesday.

"Comrie played well," McDavid added. "We definitely threw everything we had at him in the first and third.

"I thought we gifted them maybe two goals there; the kid [Tage Thompson] makes a [heck] of a play on the one, and the other is just a straight gift. We knew they had that talent, and they were going to hurt you if we did stuff like that, and they certainly did that." 

The Oilers will be back on the ice Thursday as the host the undefeated Carolina Hurricanes (3-0).