3 least impressive Edmonton Oilers from 3-2 loss to Buffalo Sabres feat. Zach Hyman 

The Edmonton Oilers entered Monday night's game against the lowly Buffalo Sabres with a prime opportunity to gain ground in the Pacific Division standings and move closer to first place.

However, despite being seemingly less talented and all but officially guaranteed to miss the playoffs for a 14th straight season, the Sabres emerged on top of the Oilers by a 3-2 final score. The Oilers are now 37-23-4, while the Sabres improved to 25-32-6.

Sabres forward Tage Thompson opened the scoring just past the midway point of the opening 20 minutes of play, his 32nd goal of the season to give Buffalo the 1-0 lead.

The Oilers had the response in the second period, as Darnell Nurse notched his fifth goal to knot the score at 1-1. The Sabres then re-took the lead courtesy of Alex Tuch's 25th goal, only to have Edmonton once again respond thanks to a power-play goal from Evan Bouchard.

Both teams headed to their respective dressing rooms tied at 2-2 after 40 minutes, setting up a tense third period of play.

It was Thompson who scored for the second time early in the final frame, his 33rd goal of the season, that eventually stood up as the game-winner. Despite a late push by the Oilers with goaltender Stuart Skinner on the bench for an extra attacker, they were unable to secure the equalizer.

Skinner made 20 saves for the Oilers in the loss, while Buffalo's Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was impressive with 32 saves on the night.

3 least impressive Edmonton Oilers from 3-2 loss to Buffalo Sabres

#1. Zach Hyman

On a night where the Oilers needed to take advantage of a poor defensive Sabres team that also features suspect goaltending, they didn't get what they needed from their top players.

Hyman struggled in particular, finishing with zero points, a -1 rating and managing only a single shot on goal.

#2. Brett Kulak

It was not Kulak's night on the blue line for the Oilers, who missed out on a chance to move closer to first place in the division.

He finished tied for a team-worst -2 rating, contributed zero points, and also was guilty of a pair of giveaways as part of the loss to the Sabres.

#3. Corey Perry

Another Oilers forward who was mostly invisible for his club against the Sabres was veteran Corey Perry.

He also finished with no points while not even getting a single shot on goal.

The Oilers will look to bounce back when they face the New Jersey Devils next at Prudential Center on Thursday.