BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Familiar inconsistencies. Different result. Matt Hendricks and the Edmonton Oilers proved they arent so bad that they cant beat the lowly Buffalo Sabres -- and on the road, no less. The newly acquired forward scored a short-handed goal 57 seconds into the third period, and the Oilers hung on for a 3-2 win in a matchup of the NHLs two worst teams Monday night. Bouncing back from a lethargic effort in a 4-0 loss at Boston on Saturday, the Oilers managed to eke out a win against the only team below them in the overall standings. Edmonton (19-33-6) won for the fourth time in five games and moved six points clear of the Sabres (15-32-8), who dropped to 4-8-4 in their past 16. "We didnt have a very good game in Boston. We let them kind of dictate the game for 60 minutes," Hendricks said. "Tonight, we didnt have our A game either, but we were able to get a road win." Justin Schultz and Jeff Petry also scored for Edmonton, and David Perron had two assists. Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 42 shots in helping Edmonton snap an 0-5-1 skid against the Sabres dating to a 4-1 win on Oct. 16, 2003. The Oilers, outshot 44-28, even had the good fortune of getting a break from the officials. Sabres forward Marcus Foligno had a potential tying goal waved off with 10:25 left when referee Gord Dwyer ruled the whistle had blown before the puck went in. Foligno drove in from left side and got a shot off that Bryzgalov appeared to glove. Foligno followed up by poking the puck in. Dwyer, parked at the left post, immediately waved it off and then confirmed the call following a video review. "It was a quick whistle. It was a tough break," Foligno said. "We could have had momentum after that shift with a goal." Drew Stafford and Steve Ott scored for the Sabres. Sabres backup goalie Jhonas Enroth stopped 25 shots, dropping to 1-11-5 this season and 0-9-4 in his past 13 starts. The Sabres came up empty in extending their home skid to 0-4-3 -- the teams longest since opening the season 0-8-1 in Buffalo. Buffalo gave up the first goal 32 seconds in, was unable to hold a 2-1 lead and then gave away the game while it was on the power play. With Ryan Nugent-Hopkins off for hooking, the Sabres turned the puck over inside the Oilers blue line. Edmonton forward Boyd Gordon got the puck and threaded a pass through the middle to hit Hendricks, who had sneaked in behind Buffalos defenders. Breaking in alone, Hendricks backed Enroth into the crease and lifted a shot inside the left post. "Great pass," Hendricks said. "I give him a lot of credit. It was a pretty play. Im sure I wouldve just dumped it in." Hendricks is a defensive-minded forward who was acquired by the Oilers in a trade with Nashville two weeks ago. Oilers coach Dallas Eakins is impressed with what Hendricks has provided on and off the ice. "Hes preaching all the stuff that we need here," Eakins said. "Hes been a good penalty-killer for us, but definitely a guy thats very vocal. I think a lot of our guys need to be listening to that because he certainly knows what hes talking about." Hendricks was happy to contribute with his second goal in nine games for Edmonton. "Your bread and butter is the defensive style of game, so any time you get an opportunity to add to the stat sheet, its a good feeling," Hendricks said. Bryzgalov then did the rest by stopping the final 31 shots he faced after Stafford beat him with a hard snap shot with 53 seconds left in the first period. One of Bryzgalovs better stops came in the final minute, when he got his glove out to top Alexander Sulzers shot from the right circle that went through a crowd. NOTES: Stafford returned after missing four games with an upper-body injury. To make room on their roster, the Sabres placed LW Matt Moulson (upper body) on injured reserve. ... The Oilers are 2-1 in their past three games despite being outshot by a combined 144-80. ... The Sabres became the last NHL team to reach 100 goals this season when Ott tied it at 1. By comparison, Buffalo has allowed a combined 110 goals in the first two periods. ... Sabres D Tyler Myers missed the third period after hurting his right leg in the second. Mike Bibby Jersey . A better question yet may be this: How many times has the same player been involved in both? Morneau hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning and helped the Colorado Rockies turn the third triple play in team history as they beat the San Diego Padres 8-6 on Sunday. Sacramento Kings Jerseys . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Marc-Andre Fleury, Penguins (3) - Surrendered a tough first goal against on a deflection through the body short side. http://www.nbakingsonline.com/Authentic-Vlade-Divac-Kings-Jersey/ . The closer wasnt available. The road trip, a disaster to that point. Vince Carter Jersey .C. -- Colin Kaepernick raced into the end zone, then pretended to rip open his shirt with both hands imitating Cam Newtons Superman touchdown celebration. Skal Labissiere Jersey . Howard hit a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Philadelphia Phillies to a 6-3 win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hi Kerry, Watching the Canucks recent road trip to Los Angeles and Anaheim, I was sickened at how many time Luongo and Lack were run. I would like you to comment on two particular incidents in each game involving Dustin Brown, and then Corey Perry were absolutely despicable. In both cases, the players came barreling to the net and when feeling the slightest contact from the defender launches their bodies into Luongo and Lack (in Browns incident, he actually does a twist in the air). How is a goalie supposed to make the save while trying to protect themselves from being run? Do you really think that this is good for the NHL? Does the NHL look into these as supplementary discipline? Id be ok with a penalty to the defender and the forward but there should not be a goal. Its kind of similar to calling a hook and a dive where the dive is an obvious egregious offence. Thank you,DavidVancouver BC --- Hi Kerry, You mentioned in an earlier article, that you would have given Reilly Smith a penalty for running Luongo after scoring a goal. In the weekend games against L.A. and Anaheim, Luongo and Lack were (in my opinion) bumped into without getting a single call their way. Luongo and Lack were two of the players who showed up for the games and were in position to steal points for the Canucks when they were both run into. In the game against L.A., I found it bemusing that Brown did not get a penalty after his goal left Luongo down and out. Do you agree that it was a similar situation to the Smith/Luongo incident? If so, when will you start sending your articles to referees to pay closer attention on drives to the net? For Lack, I was in the crowd and missed the number of the Duck who got him. But I can see that some would argue that a Canuck player didnt give the Duck any space to avoid a collision. As there seems to be no fear of players driving to the net, is it time to bring back the steel pegs to stop players from driving to the net hard? Its not like the magnets are helping out much (i.e. Stamkos broken leg) and it might prevent players taking runs at goalies. Thanks,GarethRichmond, BC --- Kerry, I love reading your articles and I have a couple of questions for you. I was watching the Canucks play the Kings on Saturday night and watched as Dustin Brown and two other Kings seemed to run over Luongo with no penalties called. As I watched the game, on all three occasions the Kings were "bumped" towards the net and near Luongo, however it appeared to me that the King players made a point of hitting Luongo rather than trying to avoid contact, especially on the Brown goal. Luongo is now out with a "lower body injury" seemingly caused by Brown running over Luongo. Then tonight, I watch Palmieri get bumped by the Canuck defenseman and Palmeiri absolutely run Lack over. How are these plays/hits on the Canuck goalies not a penalty? I have noticed that this year especially, all goalies across the league, seem to be "fair game" to be run over, even when they are in their creases, yet the rules state that players are not allowed to hit a goalie when they are in the goalie is in their crease. Thanks Kerry,Steve --- David, Gareth, Steve and all Canuck fans: We know that the goalkeeper, as the last line of defence, can often be the difference between winning and losing. In the game with the Kings, Roberto Luongo stood on his head as the Canucks were outshot 49-28. At the other end of the ice, while Jonathan Quick wasnt kept quite as busy he made the big saves when called upon. None were bigger than two successive game savers off the stick of Daniel Sedin with 34.3 seconds remaining and Luongo on the bench for an extra attacker. My point here is that goalies are often the most important player on a team and should be protected by the rules that the referees are expected to enforce. If questionable, I would prefer to see referees err on the side of calling penalties to protect the goalkeeper. In some cases, I would agree that attacking players use the slightest contact from a defender to deliberately propel themselves into the goalkeeper. In situations such as this the attacker will often make himself "bigger" to initiate contact with the goalkeeper or redirect and accelerate the falling action from less than reasonable force exerted against them to make more solid contact with the goalie. A penalty should be assessed in all cases when an attacker does not make a reasonable attempt to avoid contact with the goalkeeper when he has the opportunity to do so. It boggles my mind however, when I see a defensive player hit or push an opponent into their own goalkeeper from close quarters making it virtually impossible for the attacker to avoid contact. Once an attacker is vaulted toward the goalie he must protect himself and in doing so will often attempt to minimize contact by altering his body posture while flying through the air. Since your questions did not provide me with a time on the game clock when these "despicable" incidents occurred, along with my desire to get a totally unbiased perspectivve I watched the Canucks-Kings game from start to finish.ddddddddddddnbsp; I then was able to scan the Ducks game and find the separate plays involving contact in the crease from Corey Perry and Kyle Palmieri on Vancouver replacement goalkeeper Eddie Lack. I provide you with my independent findings. I hope you dont get lost in the detail. In L.A., both teams were setting up tight to the edge of the opposing goal crease throughout the game. In the first period the predominant contact in the crease was exerted against Jonathan Quick by Canuck players. The first incident of note occurred with 15:36 remaining when Drew Doughty bumped Mike Santorelli from behind into Quick. Then with 12:17 left in the first, Kevin Bieksa and Ryan Kessler went hard to the net and jammed at Quicks pads and eventually pushed the goalie and the puck across the line as rookie referee Mark Lemelin correctly waived off the goal. Several situations were present where players of both teams avoided or drastically minimized contact with the goalies. The first situation where I deemed a goalkeeper interference penalty was warranted occurred with 7:37 on the clock in the second period. Ryan Kesler nudged Jarret Stoll as he attacked the net from along the goal line and Stoll used to contact to continue on a path into the crease and roll over Roberto Luongo. The referee was on the opposite side of the net (once again behind the goal line!) and did not react. This would have been a perfect time to send a message to avoid the goalkeeper whenever possible. Tyler Toffoli of the Kings was fouled by Chris Higgins in a similar location along the goal line to where Stoll had been nudged. Toffoli legitimately fell into the crease but bailed and tucked to minimize impending contact with Luongo. Now comes the big question mark in the game when Dustin Brown scored the go-ahead goal for the Kings early in the 3rd and made significant contact with Roberto Luongo. FYI, I broke this one down frame-by-frame not to question the referees decision but only to provide you with an accurate take on the play. As Brown followed his shot near the top of the crease he started to square up his posture and skates in preparation for a stop motion. At that instant Mike Santorelli slipped his right leg between the skates of Brown and contacted Browns right shin just below the knee. Based on the force and location of the contact a leg whip caused Dustin Browns body to rotate in a spin toward Luongo. The "roll" that Brown executed while airborne I could argue was in an attempt to minimize and avoid direct contact with his shoulder on the Vancouver goalie which could have been more significant. As a result of the leg contact applied by Mike Santorelli at the top of the goal crease Dustin Brown was propelled into the goal crease and Roberto Luongo. Following Browns contact on Luongo, Tom Sestito of the Canucks appeared to retaliate by skating straight into Jonathan Quick inside his goal crease after play was stopped. A scrum resulted but no penalties were assessed. This was another missed opportunity to send a message when Sestito was not penalized for goalkeeper interference on the play! Moving forward to the game with the Anaheim Ducks there is no question in my mind that Corey Perry used the shove/cross-check motion from Kevin Bieksa at the top of Eddie Lacks crease to make contact with the Canuck replacement goalkeeper. Perry should have received a minor penalty for goalkeeper interference! Not only did Perry fall in the direction of Lack he appeared to extend his arm in search of his intended target. Kyle Palmieri on the other hand was propelled into Lack with significant force by Canuck defenceman Dan Hamhuis and did not deserve a goalkeeper interference penalty. Breaking this play down we can see Palmeri beat Hamhuis wide following a neutral zone face-off and proceed to attack the net parallel to the goal line. With Hamhuis tight on his back, Palmieri released a shot from the bottom of the end zone face-off circle. Both players followed the shot toward the crease. With Hamhuis still physically engage on his back quarter, Palmieri positioned his skates in a side-slide stop motion before reaching the goal crease. Kyle Palmieris upper body posture suggests that he was also pushing back away from the crease and against Hamhuis. Dan Hamhuis is visible with his knees flexed, his back arched and driving Palmieri forward with two hands toward the crease and goal post. The final pressure that Hamhuis exerted with his left glove hand was to push and twist Kyle Palmieri. This force caused the Duck forward to be launched and turned in the air toward Lack. While airborne, Palmieri continued to rotate his body slightly to avoid the goal post and thereby exposed his back to the impending contact with the goalkeeper. In the two situations where Eddie Lack was contacted by Duck players in his crease, I have to seriously question the containment tactics used by both Vancouver defensemen. The force they exerted on their opponents was in the very direction of their goalkeeper from close range. While Corey Perry deserved a penalty and Kyle Palmieri did not, the end result left their goalkeeper sprawled on the ice and susceptible to potential injury. 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