Islanders 3, Oilers 2
UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- John Tavares' goal with 1:07 left in the second period on Thursday night snapped a tie and lifted the New York Islanders to a 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers at Nassau Coliseum.
Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo also scored for the Islanders (3-2-2), who came back from a 2-1 deficit after one period to snap a three-game losing streak (0-2-1) and beat the Oilers for the sixth straight time at home. Edmonton last won on Long Island on Dec. 14, 1999.
The Islanders killed three power plays in a span of 8:48 before Tavares' winner. Tavares was wrapped up along the boards with Boyd Gordon and Justin Schultz but poked the puck to Okposo and broke free of the Oilers' duo. Okposo immediately passed the puck back to Tavares, whose shot slipped under the legs of Anton Belov and past goalie Devan Dubnyk.
Taylor Hall set a team record by scoring twice in an eight-second span late in the first period for the Oilers (1-6-1), who lost their fifth in a row as they tied the 1992-93 team -- which was 1-6-1 in the pre-shootout era -- for the fewest points through eight games in franchise history.
Wayne Gretzky scored twice in nine seconds for Edmonton against St. Louis on Feb. 18, 1981.
The Oilers had a handful of chances to tie it in the third period. Ryan Smyth could not poke the puck past Evgeni Nabokov from behind the right side of the net with a little more than four minutes left and Hall's shot from the faceoff circle was deflected by Nabokov with 1:27 to go,
Nabokov had 27 saves for the Islanders and Dubynk turned back 37 shots for the Oilers.
The Islanders took the lead a second before the midpoint of the first period when Travis Hamonic swiped the puck from Belov, who was trying to pick it up behind the Edmonton net, and passed it to Bailey, who fired a shot past a shielded Dubynk.
The Oilers were being outshot 11-4 until Hall stunned the Islanders and the crowd of 10,608 with the back-to-back goals. First, he took a pass from Jordan Eberle and, despite being parallel to the goal, shot the puck past a diving Andrew MacDonald and Nabokov.
Eberle emerged from the subsequent faceoff with the puck and immediately passed to Mark Arcobello, whose shot glanced off Nabokov's pads. Hall barreled in and poked the rebound past Nabokov to break a team record.
The Islanders tied it 4:54 into the second period when Okposo capped a three-shot power play flurry by New York by going to one knee and threading two defensemen with a shot that sailed past Dubynk.
NOTES: The Islanders scratched LW Eric Boulton, D Matt Carkner and C Brock Nelson. The Oilers scratched RW Mike Brown, LW Jesse Joensuu and D Denis Grebeshkov. ... The Islanders have hosted the Oilers seven times since the turn of the century -- as many times as the Islanders hosted the Oilers in the playoffs from 1981 through 1984. ... This season marks the sixth time the Oilers have collected five or fewer points through eight games. They recovered to make the playoffs in 1991-92 when they reached the conference finals and in 1997-98 when they made the conference semifinals. ... The Islanders and Oilers are both expected to move into new homes within the next three seasons. The Islanders are scheduled to move into Barclays Center no later than the start of the 2015-16 season. Construction on a new arena in Edmonton should be completed by 2016-17. Nassau Coliseum and Rexall Place in Edmonton are the second and third oldest arenas in the NHL behind New York City's Madison Square Garden.
