A quiet game turned into a thriller Thursday night at Rogers Place with the Edmonton Oilers edging the New York Islanders 2-1 in a shootout.
The Oilers gave up an early third period goal, which gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead. The Oilers had to rally late in the third when Connor McDavid scored to tie the game with 1:54 left in regulation.
“We gave up a goal early in the third period when it’s a tie game and that seems to be a common trend where we just kind of roll over and it’s a game we lose, but not tonight,” McDavid said.
“I thought the guys battled hard and we found a way to get a goal, all be it a little cheeky, but we got a win.”
The Oilers top line was on the ice when the Islanders scored the go ahead goal early in the third period, which led to some line shuffling late in the game by head coach Todd McLellan.
LISTEN: Todd McLellan on 630 CHED
“The goal they gave up was one that was avoidable. An individual turned the puck over at the blue line,” McLellan said.
READ MORE: Edmonton Oilers finally finding success on the penalty kill
“Connor happened to be on the ice for it but he didn’t have a lot to do with it, but that line was a little indifferent early so we started to shuffle things around and started playing Connor on three different lines down the stretch and we were lucky enough to get one late and we are usually a pretty good overtime team and we saw that again.”
McDavid seemed to be on the ice the entire third period and most of overtime. He finished the night logging 27:27 of total ice time.
“He just takes over the game when he wants to. He has the ability to do that any given night,” said Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot.
“When it’s a one-goal game that’s who you want on the ice, you just know he’s going to do something special with it at some point and it never ceases to amaze.”
LISTEN: Cam Talbot on 630 CHED
The Islanders outshot the Oilers 9-7 in a scoreless first period. McDavid had an early scoring chance off a rush but slid the puck just wide. Late in the frame, Jujhar Khaira got the better of Cal Clutterbuck in a fight off a face off.
The Oilers applied most of the pressure in the second period, outshooting the Islanders 15-8. Christopher Gibson, making just his second appearance of the season, was sturdy in the New York net while Talbot was steady for the Oilers.
Thomas Hickey opened the scoring 1:54 into the third, cutting in front and roofing a backhand over Talbot’s left shoulder. McDavid tied it with 1:50 left. His centring pass was deflected by Brandon Davidson, hit Gibson on the back of the head and dropped over the line. It was McDavid’s career-high 31st goal. Ethan Bear earned an assist for his first career point.
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That set up a thrilling overtime. Gibson robbed Oscar Klefbom on a one-timer in front 25 seconds in.
McDavid broke in just seconds later but couldn’t beat Gibson.
With 2:00 left, McDavid was hooked on a breakaway by Mathew Barzal and awarded a penalty shot. McDavid shot blocker side on the penalty shot, but the puck rang off the goal post.
Former Oiler Jordan Eberle had a golden chance to end it with 42 seconds left, but Talbot came up with a stretching pad save.
“Leddy made a nice play to Ebs there and I just got my pad across and desperation save kind of thing,” Talbot explained.
In the shootout, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Eberle scored. The second shooters for both teams missed. McDavid pulled off a brilliant deke to score. Talbot stopped John Tavares to seal the win.
“We got the win and that’s all that matters, obviously in overtime it would have been nice to get that one but you know we’ll take the shootout win,” added McDavid on failing to capitalize on his penalty shot in overtime.
LISTEN: Connor McDavid on 630 CHED
The Islanders are now winless in eight (0-4-4). Islanders head coach Doug Weight wasn’t happy with the end result.
“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. Not like any other human being because he can take off,” 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.”
The Oilers, 29-34-4, will host Minnesota on Saturday.
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