3 Takeaways: Islanders Fall to Oilers 4-1

The New York Islanders winless skid reached five games on Monday night, as the Isles fell 4-1 to the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place.

Mathew Barzal opened the scoring 40 seconds into the game, but the Oilers responded with four unanswered goals. Leon Draisaitl’s four-point game (1G, 3A) paced the Oilers, while Zach Hyman and Connor McDavid (1G, 1A) scored power-play goals 1:58 apart in the third period and Evander Kane delivered a shorthanded empty-netter.

Ilya Sorokin stopped 28 of 31 in the loss, while Stuart Skinner stopped 32 of 33 in the win. New Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch picked up the win in his NHL coaching debut.

The loss drops the Islanders to 0-4-1 in their last five games and 1-8-3 in their last 12 trips to Edmonton, a place that has not been kind to them in some time.

“We're clearly under some adversity,” Head Coach Lane Lambert said. “We've come through it as a group before in an adverse situation in the past and found our way out of it and that's all you can do. We stick together. We win as a team, we lose as a team and we stay positive. We're doing a lot of good things. We're not getting the results.”

POWER-PLAY GOALS SINK ISLES IN THIRD PERIOD:

Special teams sunk the Islanders on Monday night, as the Isles allowed a pair of power-play goals in a 1:58 stretch to turn a 1-1 tie into a 3-1 deficit midway through the third period.

Zach Hyman made it 2-1 at the 7:35 mark, scoring nine seconds into an Oilers power play after Simon Holmstrom was called for tripping in the offensive zone. Hyman posted up in front of the net and swatted in Connor McDavid’s centering feed from side of the net after a Leon Draisaitl blast kicked off the end boards.

Ryan Pulock was called for putting the puck over the glass shortly after and McDavid, who entered the game on a three-game point drought, delivered the dagger less than two minutes later, skating in off the rush sneaking a wrister through Ilya Sorokin at 9:33.

“We have to kill them off and right now we’re not getting kills,” Lambert said.

It marked the second time in three games the Islanders allowed an untimely power-play goal, after David Pastrnak’s scored the game-winner a man up to break open a 2-2 tie in Boston on Thursday night. The Islanders also allowed two power-play goals in that game. Monday also marked the fourth time in five games the Islanders had allowed multiple goals in the third period. During their winless stretch, they’ve been outscored 11-1 in the final frame.

“We just have to keep working,” Scott Mayfield said. “I liked certain parts of [our game] early. We’ve got to figure out our thirds obviously and we have to figure out the kill.”

The Islanders' penalty kill is converting at 73.9%, ranking 25th in the league. The Isles have allowed 12 total power-play goals, including three games with two or more.

The power-play goals also undid a solid night defensively for the Islanders, who limited the Oilers to just 13 shots through two periods of low-event hockey. Natural Stat Trick counted just five high danger chances at five-on-five for the Oilers on Monday.

ISLANDERS OFFENSE LIMITED TO ONE GOAL FOR SECOND STRAIGHT GAME:

Goals have been hard to come by for the Islanders on their five-game slide, as Monday marked the second straight game the Isles were limited to one goal and the fourth straight game they’ve been held to two or fewer.

At first, it looked like that trend was going to reverse, as Mathew Barzal opened the scoring 40 seconds in, one-timing a Bo Horvat feed high glove side on Stuart Skinner. The Islanders had their chances to extend the lead – including a Cal Clutterbuck wrister off Skinner’s shoulder and the post – but could not capitalize on the early momentum.

Instead, the Oilers, who entered the game 0-5-0 when allowing the game’s opening goal, evened the score at the 14:17 mark, as Draisaitl collected the puck after an Islanders clear, re-entered the zone with speed and beat Ilya Sorokin low stick side for the tying goal.

The Islanders pushed again to start the second period, as they outshot the Oilers 9-6 in the middle frame and held a 3-0 advantage in high-danger chances at five-on-five. Still, a second goal did not materialize, despite the Oilers averaging 3.92 goals against per game, the third-highest in the league. Brock Nelson tied a career-high (set on Nov. 22, 2022) with 10 shots on goal.

“Our lines were going,” Anders Lee said. “A few lines had good looks and a lot of good opportunities. We’re not getting it to go in and that's been killing us lately.”

The game swung back the other way in the third, as Edmonton outshot the Islanders 19-13 in the third period, riding the momentum of the quick power-play goals.

After another night of near misses, good stretches and costly third periods, the Islanders said sticking together would be the only way to work through this dry spell.

“When you're facing it, you're feeling it and things are going the wrong way it seems to pile on a little bit, so you have to stick together,” Lee said. “It's all we can do. It's frustrating and it's not fun right now, but we have to find some joy in this game and enjoy the challenge that we're in right now and come out of it together.”

LINEUP CHANGES:

The Islanders made several changes to their lineup ahead of Monday’s tilt.

Adam Pelech returned after missing a pair of games with a lower body injury, giving the Islanders a full complement of defensemen for only the fourth time this season. Samuel Bolduc came out of the lineup as a result. Pelech played 20:34 with one shot, four total attempts and a pair of hits.

Julien Gauthier played his second game as an Islander, drawing in for Matt Martin who sat out as a healthy scratch. Gauthier played 8:51 in the loss on a line with Cal Clutterbuck and Casey Cizikas.  

Oliver Wahlstrom also returned to the lineup after sitting out Saturday, he drew in for Hudson Fasching. Wahlstrom had one shot, three total attempts and blocked a pair of shots.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders head to Vancouver for nationally-televised tilt against the Canucks on Wednesday night. Puck drop is at 10 p.m. eastern.