It’s not exactly how the Edmonton Oilers drew it up, but you’ll take the win.
On Tuesday evening, the Oilers hosted the New York Islanders and defeated their Eastern Conference opponents with a 4-3 win in overtime to bring their season record to 8-7-1.
This one was a bit of a snoozer until the latter part of the game. After a scoreless first period, the Oilers kicked off the second frame with a power play. It didn’t take long for Leon Draisaitl to get on the score sheet, as he scored from his office with his patented one-timer.
That lead didn’t last long. Before the end of the second period, the Islanders managed to tie the score. A bad pinch by Mattias Ekholm gave the Islanders a partial two-on-one and Kyle Palmieri made no mistake burying a high one-timer goal on Stuart Skinner.
Early in the third period, the Oilers scored to regain the lead, as a wrist shot from Evan Bouchard beat Ilya Sorokin for his fourth of the season.
The Oilers extended their lead just over the midway mark of the third period, as Connor McDavid scored his second goal in as many games with a backhand shot that fooled Sorokin.
You’d think a 3-1 lead would be enough for the Oilers to close it out against a team in the basement of the league in scoring, but you’d be mistaken. About two and a half minutes later, Stuart Skinner gave up a juicy rebound, pushing it directly into the path of Andres Lee, who made no mistake on the loose puck to make the score 3-2.
With under three minutes left in the game, Lee tied the game after an offensive zone faceoff win. The Oilers never touched the puck before it ended up past Skinner for the 3-3 tie.
As good teams do though, the Oilers found a way to win. They dominated the overtime period and after a full line change, Connor McDavid’s pass to Draisaitl allowed the German centre to win the game against an exhausted Islanders team.
Takeaways…
Connor McDavid is just one point away from 1,000 in his career. It’s only a matter of time before the 27-year-old reaches the mark in the fourth-fewest games, behind Wayne Gretzky’s 424 games, Mario Lemieux’s 513 games, and Mike Bossy’s 656 games. We Oilers fans are so lucky to have him.
For the fourth time this season, the Oilers went an entire game without giving up a goal on the penalty kill. They are now 3-1 when they achieve that feat. What’s more is that the power play is also coming around, managing to score on one of their two opportunities.
With two goals in this game, Leon Draisaitl is now tied for the league lead with 12. He’s certainly stepped up his game after a “meh” season last year. His performance without McDavid in those three games shows why he’s easily a top 3 player in the league.
Edmonton returns to action on Thursday, as they’ll take on the Nashville Predators… again. It’ll be the third of three meetings between the two teams this season. Another odd note: The Oilers have played the Predators every second Thursday this season.
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