BUFFALO, N.Y. -- After countless broken sticks, the Buffalo Sabres harped on Rasmus Ristolainen to get back to using his booming shot.

On Tuesday, the defenseman delivered the goods. Ristolainen scored 57 seconds into overtime to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.

"It was about time," Ristolainen said. "A lot of chances and shots and finally it went in."

The game-winner capped a frenetic finish. Buffalo forced overtime with 28.3 seconds remaining in regulation on Evander Kane's second goal of the game.

Ristolainen scored on the power play after a penalty to Edmonton's Adam Larsson late in regulation. Ristolainen unleashed a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle, which ricocheted off the right post into the net.

It was the first goal of the season for the young two-way defenseman. Ristolainen last scored March 3 and had been plagued by broken sticks and missed opportunities this year.

"At times this year he's shied away from using his shot because of the sticks and not having success with it," Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said. "We've been urging him to take the one-timer (on the power play) ... it actually was a little farther out than you'd like to see it but luckily he took the one-timer and got us the victory."

Ristolainen is forced to take on a larger role with several key defensemen out for the Sabres. Buffalo is missing four defenders because of injury. On Tuesday, he played a game-high 29:58 -- six-plus minutes more than the next highest Sabre.

"That's why you train in the summer time," Ristolainen said. "You need to be in good shape and I feel great right now and could go again tomorrow night."

Brian Gionta also scored for the Sabres (10-10-6). Anders Nilsson made 34 saves.

Kane forced overtime after a fortunate bounce in front of the Edmonton net. After Sabres center Ryan O'Reilly's hard slap shot hit the right post, Kane put home the rebound to even the score at 3-3.

Jordan Eberle, Milan Lucic and Leon Draisaitl scored for the Oilers (14-10-4). Cam Talbot made 22 saves.

"It comes down to them pulling their goalie and executing and we have to live with that," Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. "That's going to happen in the game, that's going to happen every now and then and it's the next 22 seconds when you take a penalty that you don't need to take and that sets you up for a loss."

Kane opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 10:38 of the first period.

Gionta made it 2-0 with 6:14 remaining in the first following a fine feed by left winger Marcus Foligno. Foligno skated past Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom, fed Gionta a backhand pass and the Sabres captain chipped it home for his sixth goal of the season.

The Oilers quickly got back into the game with two goals in a span of 1:45 in the second period.

Eberle put Edmonton on the board at 10:31 by poking home a loose puck after a scrum in the crease on the power play.

Lucic evened the score at 12:16 following a great feed by Connor McDavid. The power forward scored on a quick wrist shot for his eighth goal of the year.

Draisaitl gave Edmonton a 3-2 lead midway through the third period. McDavid's shot from the bottom of the right circle was deflected in the slot by Draisaitl for his 11th goal of the year at 9:59.

"We did a really good job taking that game over after the first," McDavid said. "Started slow, battled back, had the lead and weren't really giving up much, especially in the third period. Give them credit. They found a way to get one, get it to overtime and their power play bared down."

NOTES: Injuries continue to hurt the Sabres on defense. Three defensemen -- D Josh Gorges (foot), D Taylor Fedun (shoulder) and D Zach Bogosian (knee sprain) -- were scratched for the Sabres. D Dmitry Kulikov (lower back/injured reserve) rejoined the team at Buffalo's practice Sunday and may be able to return later in the week. ... LW Anton Slepyshev, LW Benoit Pouliot and D Dillon Simpson were scratched for the Oilers. ... This was the second and final meeting this season. ... This wrapped up the third of a league-high 19 sets of back-to-back games for the Sabres this season.