*Photo from TSN*
Maybe this was the spark they needed. Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist, Leon Draisaitl had a goal and 3 assists, and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the New York Islanders with a 4-1 victory on Monday night in Edmonton.
The win is the first on home ice this year for the Oilers, who also won their second straight game to improve to 3-6-1 in their last 10 games and 4-9-1 on the season. 5 different skaters had a point for the Oilers, with Draisaitl and McDavid continuing to lead the charge.
Edmonton also won their first game in the Kris Knoblauch era behind the bench. After the Oilers fired Jay Woodcroft on Sunday, the Oilers hired Knoblauch from the AHL Hartford Wolf Pack to be the new head coach. Knoblauch coached McDavid in junior hockey with the Erie Otters of the OHL.
Knoblauch said of the win that "It feels amazing to get that first win, being a head coach was a highlight, just being here and obviously it gets much better when you win. I liked how our team played, it wasn’t a perfect game, certainly we weren’t the better team in the first half of the game. I liked how we stayed patient, we stayed the course and we didn’t do any unnecessary risks."
It was the Islanders who struck early on in the game. Just 40 seconds after puck drop, Mathew Barzal scored his 3rd goal of the season, assisted by Bo Horvat and Ryan Pulock. At the 14:17 mark of the first period, Draisaitl tied the game 1-1 with his 6th goal of the season, with the lone assist going to Darnell Nurse.
After a scoreless second period, Zach Hyman gave the Oilers a 2-1 lead with a power play goal 7:35 into the 3rd period. McDavid added another power play goal for the Oilers, scoring his 3rd goal of the season to make it 3-1. While shorthanded late, Draisaitl assisted on an empty net goal by Evander Kane to make it a 4-1 final score.
McDavid said after the game that "It’s been a crazy couple days, a crazy 48 hours. It’s unfortunately something we have gone through before and we have responded the same way. It was everything that we have kind of been missing. Special teams were good and we got some third period offense. We have been missing that. I thought Skinner played really well and was there when we needed him."
Starting in goal for the Oilers was Stuart Skinner, who had a strong performance to get the win to move to 3-5-1 in 9 starts. Skinner stopped all but one of the 33 shots the Islanders sent at him, giving him a .970 save percentage.
Getting the start for the Islanders opposite Skinner was Ilya Sorokin, who was handed a loss as his record dropped to 3-3-3 through 9 starts. Sorokin turned aside 28 out of the 31 shots on goal he faced, recording a .903 save percentage.
New York captain Anders Lee said that "They get a couple power-play goals and take the lead, but our lines were going. A few lines had good looks, a lot of good opportunities, it’s just we’re not getting it to go in. That’s been killing us lately, and it’s just finding ways to get those penalties killed. But when you’re facing it and you’re feeling it and things are going the wrong way, it seems to pile on a little bit."
The Oilers play their second game of the Knoblauch era on Wednesday against the Seattle Kraken, with Skinner projected to start. The Islanders face the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday, with the expected starter being Sorokin.
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