Oilers, Islanders aim to halt recent funks

Edmonton Oilers celebrate a goal against the New Jersey Devils during first period NHL action in Edmonton, Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

The Edmonton Oilers and New York Islanders were each on the brink of disaster when they met for the first time this season on Nov. 13.

The teams will be in much better shape when they meet again on Tuesday night in Elmont, N.Y., but they will also be eager to avoid losing any more of the momentum they've established over the past month.

Both teams are on two-game skids, and both have been off since multi-goal defeats on Saturday night. The host Oilers gave up three first-period goals in a 5-1 loss to the Florida Panthers. The visiting Islanders nearly overcame a four-goal deficit before falling 5-3 to the Montreal Canadiens.

For the Oilers, the consecutive losses to the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning represented a discouraging return to the porous defensive form they displayed through much of the first quarter of the season.

The Oilers were outscored 51-35 over their first 13 games (3-9-1) before Jay Woodcroft was fired on Nov. 12 and replaced with Kris Knoblauch.

Edmonton beat the Islanders 4-1 in Knoblauch's debut on Nov. 13 to begin a 13-game stretch in which it went 10-3-0, outscored the opposition 57-34 and won eight straight games from Nov. 24 through Dec. 12 to climb into ninth place in the Western Conference.

But the three-goal first by the Panthers came after the Oilers allowed the Lightning to score five third-period goals in Thursday's 7-4 loss. Edmonton, which has slipped to 13th place in the Western Conference, has allowed at least five goals in back-to-back games four times this season.

"We just need to get a little more urgency playing defensive hockey," Knoblauch said. "When things are going well, you often forget about those details of what made you successful. We just need to get back (to) playing a little bit better defensive hockey."

The regulation loss Saturday was only the second since the trip to Edmonton for the Islanders, who have moved into third place in the Metropolitan Division entering Monday by winning nine of 14 games (9-2-3) since enduring a seven-game losing streak (0-4-3) from Nov. 4-16.

That skid included a 4-1 loss to the visiting Washington Capitals on Nov. 11 in which fans chanted for the firing of New York coach Lane Lambert.

Tired legs may have been a problem on Saturday for the Islanders, who were completing a back-to-back set after falling 5-4 to the visiting Boston Bruins in a shootout on Friday night.

The Canadiens scored four unanswered goals in a span of less than 12 minutes in the second. Brock Nelson scored twice in just 1:36 early in the third and Bo Horvat pulled New York within a goal with 5:54 left before Christian Dvorak iced the victory for the Canadiens with an empty-netter in the final minute.

"There was a lot of emotional toll taken -- that game was a hard game," Lambert said, referring to the loss to the Bruins. "At the same time, you have to come and be ready to play. I just didn't think we had a lot of juice in the first 40 minutes."