Oilers rally to defeat Islanders in shootout

EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid scored the deciding goal after tying the game late in the third period to lift the Edmonton Oilers to a 2-1 shootout win against the New York Islanders at Rogers Place on Thursday.
McDavid faked a backhand and slid a shot under a diving Christopher Gibson's stick in the third round of the shootout.

Cam Talbot made 30 saves for the Oilers (29-34-4), who have won two in a row after a three-game losing streak.
"He McDavid] just takes over the game when he wants to," Talbot said. "He has that ability on any given night. In a one-goal game, that is who you want on the ice. You know he is going to do something special at some point. He never ceases to amaze."
***[WATCH: [All Islanders vs. Oilers highlights\]*
Thomas Hickey scored, and Gibson made 35 saves for the Islanders (29-29-10), who have lost eight straight (0-4-4). New York is seven points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
"It's not fun," Hickey said. "I don't have kids, but it's probably like watching your kids play in something that means a lot to them, you're on the edge of your seat because you want it so bad, but you're trying not to want it too much, because you don't want to be that disappointed. It's crushing, especially the way things have gone lately."
Hickey scored at 1:54 of the third period to give New York a 1-0 lead. He took a pass along the left wing from Brock Nelson, cut to the net, and shot a backhand over the glove of Talbot.

McDavid tied it 1-1 at 18:10 after his pass deflected off the stick of Islanders defenseman Brandon Davidson and went in off Gibson's mask at the left post.
"It hurts when we take Connor away and we watch film and if you have to stand next to him, you stand next to him, but not like any other human being because he can take off," Islanders coach Doug Weight said. "And our D cheats 15 feet above. We've done a great job throughout the day. He's going to get his chances, so we earned it."
McDavid hit the post on a penalty shot at 3:00 of overtime, and Islanders forward Jordan Eberle was unable to lift a shot over the pad of Talbot off a cross-crease pass from Nick Leddy with 43 seconds left.

"There is so much open ice in overtime, so you just have to remain patient," Talbot said. "There are a lot of good players and Leddy made a nice play to [Eberle] there. I just got my pad across and made a desperation save and we were able to get the extra point in the shootout. It was a nice win for the boys."
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored in the shootout for Edmonton, and Eberle scored for New York.
"We gave up a goal early in the third period and it seems to be a common trend where we kind of just roll over, but not tonight," McDavid said. "I thought the guys battled hard and we found a way to get a goal, albeit a little cheeky one, and we got a win."

Goal of the game

McDavid's goal in the shootout.

Save of the game

Talbot's save on Eberle at 4:17 of overtime.

Highlight of the game

McDavid's goal at 18:10 of the third period.

They said it

"It's been a long and hard path, to be honest. It hasn't been easy. That's why I cherish every single moment that I'm here. Every single minute, every single chance that I get to play. I'm excited, and I am happy about everything." -- Islanders goaltender Christopher Gibson
"I'm still learning and I'm three years with him now. You push him to the limit and he raises the bar, you put him to a limit and he raises the bar as far as being able to recover. He has a tremendous cardio system that he has on his body, he's such an efficient skater." -- Oilers coach Todd McLellan on Connor McDavid

Need to know

The Islanders' eight-game losing streak is the longest since losing 10 straight (0-8-2) from Nov. 19-Dec. 9, 2013. … Oilers rookie defenseman Ethan Bear got his first point, an assist, in his fourth NHL game … McDavid has 10 points (four goals, six assists) in a six-game point streak. He has 28 points (16 goals, 12 assists) in his past 19 games.

What's next

Islanders:At the Calgary Flames on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; SN, MSG+, NHL.TV)
Oilers: Host the Minnesota Wild Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, FS-N, NHL.TV)