The Edmonton Oilers lost their fourth in a row and went winless on their three-game road trip with a 5-2 loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday night.
After a scoreless first period, Ryan Pulock pounded a power-play one-timer past Mikko Koskinen early in the second. Valtteri Filppula scored on a deflection to make it 2-0. Pulock had an open-net chance on another power play but fired it off the post. With only 2.3 ticks left in the frame, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins deflected Kris Russell’s point shot for his 18th goal of the season.
“I thought the first period was the best we’ve played all year on the road,” said head coach Ken Hitchcock.
“If we keep building on that we’ve got some things to build on. We’ve just got to take positives right now from this and hopefully we can continue to do it.”
Early in the third, Matthew Barzal tipped home a point shot to make it 3-1 Islanders. Leon Draisaitl buried his 35th of the season on the power play to pull the Oilers within one with 9:40 left. The Oilers had two more power plays in the final nine minutes but couldn’t find the tying goal. Anders sealed it on a two-on-one with 2:16 left. Brock Nelson added an empty netter.
Sam Gagner joined the Oilers shortly before the game after being acquired in a trade with Vancouver for Ryan Spooner. Anthony Stolarz backed up Koskinen after coming over in a Friday night trade with Philadelphia for Cam Talbot.
Gagner said playing with Nugent-Hopkins was a new experience and he feels positive about it.
“We didn’t play much together the first time around when I was here because we were both centres at that time, but we got put together as the game went on there in the second,” said Gagner.
“We put some great shifts together and we were able to score that goal.
“We created some chances, played in their end. I think there’s a fit there. We’re good friends off the ice so we can kind of build that chemistry.”
Jesse Puljujarvi was a healthy scratch while Jujhar Khaira sat out with a suspected foot issue.
The Oilers, 24-29-5, will open a three-game homestand against Arizona on Tuesday.