Takeaways: Isles Fall to Oilers 4-0

The New York Islanders’ two-game winning streak was snapped on Saturday, as the Isles were shut out by the Edmonton Oilers 4-0. 

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored two of the Oilers three second period goals to lead Edmonton to the win.  

The Oilers scored twice in 1:08 in the second period as Nugent-Hopkins opened the scoring 8:42 into the second stanza and Vasily Podkolzin’s ninth goal of the season made it 2-0.  

Nugent-Hopkins' second of the period came on the power play and was the third Edmonton goal in 9:44 as the Oilers led 3-0 after two periods.

Jason Dickinson’s first goal of the season was the empty-netter with 2:37 remaining in the third.  

Leon Draisaitl had a pair of assists and Connor McDavid added a helper as well, moving his assist and point streak to 14 consecutive games. Wayne Gretzky is the only other player in NHL history to have multiple point streaks to open a season of at least 14 games.  

Both Draisaitl and McDavid both finished October with over 25 points for the fourth time in their careers. Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier accomplished that feat an NHL record six times.  

Evan Bouchard added his 16th assist of the season, which is tied for the most by a defenseman in the NHL.

Tristan Jarry stopped all 18 shots he faced for his second shutout in as many games. Jarry has stopped the last 42 shots over the course of his shutout streak, and the Isles were held without a goal in a single game for the first time this season.  

The Isles had 33 penalty minutes and were shorthanded a season-high six times, a critical error against the Oilers who entered with the No. 1 power play in the NHL at 35.7 percent.  

Despite the penalties, the Isles held the Oilers to a 1-for-6 mark on the power play and killed off a five-minute major to Emil Heineman, who was assessed a major and a game misconduct for kneeing Isaac Howard 2:22 into the first period.  

It was the second straight contest the Isles were down a player in the opening minutes after losing Ryan Pulock – who didn’t play on Saturday – to injury against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.

Losing a top six forward was further compounded by the Islanders’ fourth game in seven nights. Head Coach Pete DeBoer said the Isles’ “self-inflicted” miscues – which included three second period penalties and a 10-minute misconduct penalty to Scott Mayfield – against a dangerous Edmonton offense were ill afforded.  

“We looked a little fatigued tonight as a group,” DeBoer said. “I think when you're fatigued mentally you make some mistakes you don’t normally make, and physically you make some mistakes you don't normally make. We won some hard-fought games here recently. We played extra time in overtime on the road, and we looked like we were a fatigued team today.” 

The Islanders were unable to generate consistent offense and had just one shot with less than a minute to play in the first stanza. The Isles finished the opening 20 minutes with three shots on goal.

The Isles went 0-for-4 on the power play and had a season-low 18 shots. They were held to just five high-danger chances at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick.  

“We just didn't generate enough offense obviously,” Bo Horvat said. “Credit to them, they played us hard tonight. They were ready for us, but we just took too many penalties. Against a team like that it wears you down and you have to create momentum after that. It wasn't our best today, but you know we got to learn from it and move on.” 

Ilya Sorokin made 20 saves.  

The Islanders dropped to 7-5-2 on the season while the Oilers became the first team in the Western Conference with 10 wins and have a 10-2-2 record. The Oilers are also a perfect 6-0-0 on the road this year.  

NEXT GAME

The Islanders have four days without a game before hosting the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday Nov. 5 at UBS Arena. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m.