Bo Horvat notched his second career hat trick, David Rittich made 30 saves in his debut, the Isles scored an elusive empty net goal while surviving a pulled goalie, and they avoided an 0-4 start to get
their first win of the season, 4-2 over the Edmonton Oilers.
The Islanders dominated the first period but only emerged from it with a 1-1 tie, in part thanks to Stuart Skinner making some great saves. It was 14 minutes before the Oilers put together a decent shift with any pressure, but the Isles had yet to cash in on any of their chances before that. It had all the markings of a haunting game regretting missed opportunities, but the Isles didn’t let early missed opportunities get them down.
[NHL Gamecenter | Game Summary | Event Summary | Natural Stat Trick]
Mat Barzal committed a turnover in his own zone late in a shift, but the Isles got the puck out to Joel Bouchard. Bouchard was lazy with the puck, thinking Barzal was going off for a change, but instead Barzal cut off his pass and went around him for a nice breakaway move to make it 1-0 at 16:23
Alas, that lead didn’t last long, and the Oilers converted on a power play with Leon Draisaitl making a quick move to tie it just 1:17 later.
That’s how things stayed till midway through the second period, though the Islanders continued to get some good chances of their own.
But they turned it over just outside their blueline and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins put a nice shot upstairs to beat David Rittich, giving the Oilers a 2-1 lead.
Late in the period, still leading 2-1, Edmonton went back on the power play and it seemed the plot was set.
But no! J-G Pageau won a puck on the left boards in the Isles zone and slipped a diagonal pass to Bo Horvat, who was sneaking out to center ice, left all alone by Evan Bouchard, who was inexplicably all the way over on the boards. That left Horvat with tons of time to pick his spot, and he made no doubt with a shot from the low slot inside the left post.
“I’ve gotta say, this is about as bad of a two periods as I’ve seen an NHL player play. Bouchard has no idea Horvat is on that side of the ice.”
>>Ray Ferraro, mincing no words about Evan Bouchard
They hit the third period tied 2-2, and it stayed that way while continuing to alternate power plays.
It was the first consecutive power play for any team in the game — after an awkward and accidental high stick by Trent Frederic on Matthew Schaefer — that the Isles power play finally struck, and quickly. Off the faceoff with five minutes to go, Schaefer fed Mat Barzal, who fed Horvat in the slot for a one-timer and his second goal of the game.
The Isles led 3-2 with four minutes to go, and they nearly grabbed an insurance marker when Emil Heineman deflected Ryan Pulock’s shot off the post.
The Oilers loaded up with Connor McDavid and Draisaitl out together and hemmed the Isles in for a couple of icings. Then they gave those two a breather before loading up again with Skinner pulled for a sixth attacker.
It was frankly a pulsating, exciting 6-on-5 situation, with the Isles staying disciplined in the face of terrifying work by the Oilers’ all-stars. Heineman just missed an empty-net try, but on the next interception and rush, Jonathan Drouin made great moves in his own zone and in the neutral zone before setting up Horvat for the empty netter and hat trick.
So the Isles have avoided at least this version of haunting. They continued to trend upward, inch by inch. If it will be the difficult season that many expect, they’ve at least ended one early nightmare storyline.
Up Next
The Isles are in Ottawa Saturday night for a one-game trip over the border.
