Two games in the metro New York area, two straight losses for the Edmonton Oilers.
After dropping a 6-5 decision to the Devils at the Prudential Center Friday to close out 2021, Noah Dobson scored in overtime to give the New York Islanders a 3-2 win over the Oilers Saturday afternoon at UBS Arena in Brooklyn.
“I give our guys a lot of credit, they competed hard,” said head coach Dave Tippett after the game on New Year’s Day.
Anders Lee opened the scoring with a power play goal late in the first, jamming a rebound under Mikko Koskinen.
Leon Draisaitl tied it 31 seconds into the second when his pass to Kailer Yamamoto banked in off the skate of an Islanders defenceman.
The Oilers kept the pressure on for most of the period and went ahead when Darnell Nurse flipped in his second of the season with 2:47 remaining.
The Islanders tied it before the third was three minutes old, when Anthony Beauvillier finished off a goal mouth scramble. It took the Oilers over fourteen-and-a-half minutes to get a shot in the period, with Jesse Puljujarvi finally breaking the drought a with a long wrister on Ilya Sorokin.
The Oilers were outshot 14-2 in the third.
With 1:08 left in overtime, Dobson beat Koskinen blocker side with a wrist shot.
“We competed the whole game, it’s just unfortunate we couldn’t get the extra point,” lamented Tippett.
As for Draisaitl, following the game, he touched on the club’s consistency.
“The ability to put 60 minutes together, we’ve kinda been struggling with that all year,” said the Oilers superstar.
Before the game, the Oilers brought in goalie Ilya Konovalov off the taxi squad as Mike Smith was unable to dress. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins didn’t play after leaving Friday’s game in New Jersey in the third period.
The Oilers, 18-12-2, will visit the New York Rangers on Monday. The game is on 630 CHED with the Face-off Show at 3:30 p.m. The game will start at 5 p.m.
–With files from David Boles, 630 CHED