Draisaitl, McDavid fuel Oilers’ 4-3 OT victory over Islanders

By Shane Jones, The Canadian Press on November 12, 2024.

New York Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin (30) looks on as Edmonton Oilers' Zach Hyman (18), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (back left hidden), Leon Draisaitl (29) and Evan Bouchard (2) celebrate a goal during second period NHL action in Edmonton on Tuesday Nov. 12, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Amber Bracken

EDMONTON – Leon Draisaitl had a pair of goals, including the overtime winner, and Connor McDavid had a goal and three assists to move just one point shy of 1,000 for his career as the Edmonton Oilers won their second straight game by defeating the New York Islanders 4-3 on Tuesday.

McDavid was able to feed the puck to Draisaitl who scored on Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin from a tough angle 1:52 into overtime, his 12th goal of the season.

Evan Bouchard also had a goal and two assists for the Oilers (8-7-1), who have now won six straight home games against the Islanders and have gone 12-1-0 over New York in their last 13 games in Edmonton. McDavid has now recorded seven points in his last two games after posting a total of only two points in the previous four games.

Anders Lee had a pair of goals and Kyle Palmieri also scored for the Islanders (6-6-4), who have lost two straight.

Netminder Stuart Skinner made 19 saves for the Oilers, while Sorokin made 38 stops for the Islanders.

TAKEAWAYS

Islanders: With his goal and assist, Palmieri moved ahead of Brock Nelson for the team lead in goals (seven) and past Bo Horvat for a team-high 14 points in 16 games. Palmieri had 33 points in 55 games two years ago and 54 points in a full 82-game campaign last season.

Oilers: Superstar captain McDavid recorded four points to move him to just one point away from becoming the 99th player in NHL history to hit the magical 1,000 points plateau for his career. With 658 games now played, when McDavid hits the mark he will likely become the fourth-fastest player ever to reach the milestone – trailing only Wayne Gretzky (424), Mario Lemieux (513) and Mike Bossy (656). At 27, he will also likely be the fourth-youngest player ever to reach 1,000 points.

KEY MOMENT

The Islanders came back from trailing by two goals midway through the third period, scoring with their goalie pulled and 2:41 remaining in the frame as Jean-Gabriel Pageau made a nice feed to Lee in the slot and he buried his second goal of the game and sixth of the season to send the game to extra time.

KEY STAT

It was a year to the day that Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch took over the reins from Jay Woodcroft, ironically coaching his first NHL game against the Islanders the next night. It has been a pretty successful tenure to this point for Knoblauch, who came into his 85th game behind the bench for Edmonton with a record of 53-25-6 – the fifth-best points percentage of any team during that span – and of course guided the Oilers all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final last season.

UP NEXT

Islanders: Visit the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

Oilers: Host the Nashville Predators on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.