The Edmonton Oilers don’t always make it easy on themselves, and last night’s 4-3 OT win over the New York Islanders is the perfect example. Let’s talk about it.

Before we begin recapping the game between the Edmonton Oilers and New York Islanders, can we take a moment to remember how much fun it was to watch Canucks fans leaving their building early after our beloved squadron of heroes ran the score up in the third period? Yes, I’m that petty. I’ve decided that nothing makes me happier than reading the whinging and whining that comes out of Vancouver any time the Oilers win.

If I’m going to tie that beautiful beatdown in Vancouver to Tuesday’s matchup with the Islanders, I guess the easy angle was that the Oilers needed a repeat performance. Despite a couple of costly mistakes, Saturday’s win was as solid a 60 minutes as we’ve seen all season. If they could, it wasn’t much of a stretch to think that they should walk all over the injury-riddled Islanders. Of course, following this team as closely as we do, we know nothing ever comes that easy.

Knowing how many players were missing from New York’s lineup, this whole situation felt like a trap coming in. On paper, there was no reason the Oilers shouldn’t beat a team missing Matt Barzal, Adam Pelech, Alex Romanov and Anthony Duclair, but any good Nation Citizen can tell you about a time or two when the boys duffed an opportunity like that. Just because the path looks a little smoother doesn’t mean the journey will be. Look at me using metaphors.

But right from the opening draw, the Oilers looked like the better team, and that, in itself, was a good start. Before the game, I was nervous the boys would take a period or two to get their legs going, but they squashed that concern with plenty of jump from the opening draw. The problem, as we know, was that none of the chances they manufactured in the offensive zone were good enough to beat Ilya Sorokin.

Edmonton’s Corskis were there, the Fenskis were too, but all that mattered was that the first period wrapped in a stalemate. Being the better team didn’t matter because, for what feels like the hundredth time this season, Edmonton couldn’t get a goal to save their lives. Even when Leon Draisaitl gave his team the lead with a power-play goal in the opening minute of the second period, the fact that the Oilers couldn’t get a second one left the door open for the Islanders to crawl their way back… and they did.

With Sorokin standing on his head at one end and denying the Oilers the ever-important insurance goal, the Islanders knotted up the score at one apiece on one of the few quality chances they had through 40 minutes. When that happened, the feeling that this was a trap game all along came roaring right back. Getting goalie’d and losing to a team missing 20 per cent of its starting roster would be the most Oilers way to lose a game that I could imagine.

Yet, just as the doubts were creeping back in, the Oilers picked up goals from Evan Bouchard and Connor McDavid to reclaim their lead with a little dose of insurance on top. With less than 10 minutes to play, how could you not feel good about Edmonton’s chances to close that thing out? I blame myself for being overconfident. In a span of just under five minutes, Isles captain Anders Lee tucked a pair of goals past Stuart Skinner, erasing the deficit in a flash and sending the game to overtime.

Despite being heavily outplayed for most of the night, the Islanders were one shot away from completing the comeback and ruining all of our nights that were supposed to be a lock on paper. Thankfully, an extended shift in New York’s zone kept three players on the ice for what seemed like an eternity, with the Oilers cycling around them shift after shift until Leon Draisaitl finally got the winner over Sorokin. If it wasn’t so annoying that the game went to OT in the first place, that finish and Oilers win would have been one of the best you’d ever see.

Then again, a win is a win, and the Oilers are in desperate need of them. So maybe I shouldn’t be complaining about how the boys picked up two points and should simply be happy that we got them. By no means was this win perfect, but it’s sure as hell better than what would have happened if the result slipped away. They don’t ask how, they just ask how many.

1. Leon Draisaitl opened the scoring (1-0) with a power play goal from his office — his 300th career power play point — after McDavid found him with a cross-ice pass that he was able to tee off on and beat Sorokin up over the shoulder. Not done there, Draisaitl added the game winner (4-3) in OT after McDavid fed with a pass in the left circle with just enough time to lift the puck up and over the crouching Sorokin.

2. Kyle Palmieri tied the game (1-1) in the back half of the second period after Mattias Ekholm got caught with a pinch and Stuart Skinner couldn’t cover up the mistake. Not to take anything away from Palmieri — the guy is a 30-goal scorer — but Skinner has to have that.

3. Evan Bouchard restored the Oilers’ lead (2-1) with a sweeping wrister after Ekholm set him up in the left circle with plenty of time and space to pick his spot. Not only was the goal big in the moment, but it also had to feel good for Bouchard to get one after struggling offensively over the last handful of games.

4. Connor McDavid extended the lead (3-1) at the midway point of the third period after Nugent-Hopkins found him in the slot with enough space to pull the puck to his backhand and slip it past Sorokin as he was moving side to side. With the goal and three assists — he has seven points in his last two games — Connor McDavid finds himself with 999 career points. McDavid looks like he’s starting to heat up, and that’s horrible news for opposing defencemen and goaltenders.

5. Just when it looked like the Oilers were starting to pull away, Anders Lee narrowed the gap (3-2) on a rebound goal to the left of Skinner after he somehow got lost behind Edmonton’s defensive coverage. Ryan Pulock fired the puck on net from the left side of the ice, and with every Oiler watching him do that, no one noticed that the Islanders’ captain had slipped down toward the crease in the perfect spot to put home the rebound. Less than five minutes later, the Islanders pulled the goalie for the extra man and Lee scored again (3-3) after posting up in front of the net and making no mistake when Pageau’s pass got to him.

6. I cannot overstate how annoying Ilya Sorokin was for the Islanders. Despite the Oilers vastly outplaying New York for most of the game, the only reason the Isles were able to drag the game to overimte was because their goaltender stood on his head. It was annoying, and I’m jealous, and I despise how he does this against the Oilers every time we see him.

7. The Oilers won both special teams battles, and I’m so happy about it that I think we should through a parade. Not only did the power play look solid en route to a 1/2 finish with the man advantage, but the penalty kill actually shut the Islanders out. That’s right, friends, the Edmonton Oilers in the year 2024 of our lord killed off the two shorthanded situations they faced. Huzzah!

8. How about Jeff Skinner starting the game on the fourth line? That’s quite the kick to the shin after starting the last one alongside Connor McDavid. I wouldn’t say he’s playing poorly by my eye, but he’s been pretty quiet in the offensive zone. When you’re a skilled guy that doesn’t kill penalties or get power play time, you kinda need to be scoring to stick in the top six.

9. Did you really think I was going to let you go without mentioning that the Oilers won 53.3% of the faceoffs? Pleeeeeease.

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