Islanders reach midpoint of season with loss to Oilers
The Islanders' Mathew Barzal is checked by the Oilers' Markus Niemelainen during the first period of an NHL game Friday in Edmonton, Alberta. Credit: The Canadian Press via AP/Jason Franson
The Islanders’ scoring chances and odd-man rushes kept coming for a second straight game. This time the goals did not follow, though, partly because of goalie Mike Smith and partly because they couldn’t finish.
"I look at it as a good hockey game," coach Barry Trotz said. "I really felt we could have been up a couple of pucks in the first period. We didn’t find the back of the net. A little bit of us and a little bit of Mike Smith, I thought he played very well. We had some really good looks."
So the Islanders reached the midpoint of their season — the last NHL team to do so — with a frustrating 3-1 loss to the Oilers on Friday night at Rogers Place in Edmonton that kept them 15 points out of the Eastern Conference’s last playoff spot.
The Islanders (17-18-6) will play in Calgary on Saturday night after opening this four-game road trip by matching their season high for goals in a 6-3 win in Vancouver on Wednesday. Ilya Sorokin, not as sharp as he was against the Canucks, made 33 saves against Edmonton.
"You can say [Smith] played a really good game, but we’ve also got to find a way to score," defenseman Scott Mayfield said. "I like the chances we did get. I like the shots we took. I think we got some Grade-As in there that I think will go in more times than not. Just not tonight."
Per naturalstattrick.com, five of the Islanders’ 10 high-danger chances came in the first period. The Oilers had no high-danger chances in the opening 20 minutes but went into the first intermission with a 1-0 lead.
The maligned Smith, who brought a dismal 3.83 goals-against average and .890 save percentage into the game, stopped 37 shots for his first win since Oct. 16. The Oilers (24-18-3) were playing their first game for new coach Jay Woodcroft, who was promoted from their AHL affiliate in Bakersfield to replace the fired Dave Tippett.
"I thought our game was good tonight," said Anthony Beauvillier, whose power-play goal from the left brought the Islanders within 2-1 at 15:04 of the second period. "All four lines were going and we created a lot of stuff. It’s unfortunate we’re getting out of here empty-handed."
Trotz kept his shaken-up lines intact from Wednesday’s win. Cal Clutterbuck stayed on Mathew Barzal’s top line, Ross Johnston skated on Brock Nelson’s second line and Beauvillier, usually a top-six forward, was on fourth-line center Casey Cizikas’ right wing.
The Islanders scored five goals in the first period against the Canucks and again started strong on Friday. But Smith, making only his ninth appearance this season, turned aside all 19 shots he faced in the first period. That included stretching out his left pad to deny Barzal at the post on a power-play rush at 17:06.
Smith also turned aside Cizikas as he got to the net at 18:38 of the second period and Beauvillier hit the crossbar on a two-on-one rush at 1:17 of the third period.
Defenseman Cody Ceci’s blue-line slap shot beat a screened Sorokin to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead with 56.6 seconds left in the first period. Zach Hyman’s 100th career goal — he kept the puck on a two-on-one and beat Sorokin underneath his glove from the left circle — made it 2-0 at 10:17 of the second period.
The Oilers regained a two-goal lead on Jesse Puljujarvi’s power-play goal at 9:14 of the third period, just three seconds after Mayfield tripped Connor McDavid (two assists). Puljujarvi beat Sorokin through his pads from the low slot while falling to the ice.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
