© 2023 Lawrence Scott

The Edmonton Oilers welcome the New York Islanders on Tuesday night to begin a two-game homestand at Rogers Place .

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 7:00 pm MT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 880CHED.

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PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Islanders

EDMONTON, AB – Bring on the Isles.

After putting up seven goals on the road against their Pacific Division rivals from Vancouver, the Oilers will try to replicate that success on home ice on Tuesday night when they host the New York Islanders in the first game of a two-game homestand at Rogers Place.

Scoring four third-period goals on Saturday – all within a 4:55 span of the frame – the Oilers came away with a 7-3 victory over the Canucks to bump their overall record this season to 7-7-1. The victory leaves the Blue & Orange fifth in the Pacific Division standings while being tied with Utah Hockey Club for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference on 15 points.

On Saturday night, the Oilers recovered from back-to-back goals from the Canucks that made it 3-2 in the second period by calling their timeout, which steeled their resolve for the remainder of the frame before they tacked on four goals on 16 shots in the final 20 minutes.

Edmonton received a pair of tallies from Connor Brown, a power-play marker from Connor McDavid and an extra goal from Brett Kulak during the final period, with the Stony Plain product’s goal being his fourth of the season to surpass his total from last campaign in only 15 games.

“I think we were shooting for rebounds, crashing the net and weren’t trying to wait for the perfect play or anything,” Brown said after Monday’s practice. “With a little bit of tenacity and hard work, we were putting it on net and banging home second and third opportunities.”

Six different Oilers recorded multi-point nights – including Mattias Janmark (3A), Leon Draisaitl (1G, 2A) and Zach Hyman (2A) – while 12 total skaters were able to find the scoresheet in the Blue & Orange’s victory.

Edmonton has recorded at least 29 shots on goal in 14 of their 15 games this season and were averaging the second most (32.9) in the NHL before their seven-goal explosion against the Canucks, so Saturday’s performance marked some positive regression for an Oilers team that knows they can score goals.

It was only a matter of time, in their minds, that they would find the back of the net on a few more of those opportunities.

“Sometimes it’s just a balance, too,” Brown added. “A little bounce like that can take the reins off and guys can just go out there and play, so I think maybe that might have been it. I think at the end of the day, it starts with hard work and checking for your chances, and we went out there, worked hard and got rewarded with some bounces.”

The Oilers plan on bringing Saturday’s scoring success back home, where they’ve scored two or fewer goals in six of eight at Rogers Place as part of a 2-5-1 at home this season, which includes only one regulation victory.

Head Coach Kris Knoblauch says that’s been part of the adjustment for the Oilers early on this campaign – a deviation from their regular success last season at home – and they’re hoping a result like Saturday’s can assist them in finding their scoring ways in front of their own fans.

“I think just having the confidence and the feel are probably the biggest things,” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We just haven’t been able to score on the power play or score at all at home, whereas at home last year, it just seemed like it was a lot easier. We’re just working on execution early this year. I don’t know what our goals for at home are, but it’s got to be better. I think that’s been a big part of it.”

“There’s no panic in our room,” Brown added. “We know the calibre of the team and the players that we have, so like I said, we’ll just continue to improve.”

“We know that we’re a good team in this building, and we love playing at home. We love playing in front of these fans. We showed that on the biggest stages last year, and so we’ll continue to show that.”

The Islanders are coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to the Devils

Oilers captain Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists against the Canucks to put himself on 995 career points, leaving himself only five points away from becoming the 99th player in NHL history to reach the mark.

With 657 career games played, McDavid would be the fourth-fastest player ever to reach the milestone – trailing only Wayne Gretzky (424), Mario Lemieux (513) and Mike Bossy (656) – if he’s able to beat Peter Stastny (682) by accomplishing the feat in his next 29 games, which is something we’re pretty confident about.

McDavid also doesn’t turn 28 years old until January 13, which will likely make him the fourth-youngest player ever to hit 1,000 points as well.

“It’s incredible,” Brown said of his captain. “I mean, fourth fastest ever, especially in this type of era. He’s fun to watch day in and day out, and it’s a pleasure, so it’ll be an amazing milestone to hit.”

“It’s a huge milestone,” Coach Knoblauch added. “I’m not surprised he doesn’t want to talk about it, but for him to reach that at the point of his career and how the NHL scoring has been since he got into the NHL, it’s absolutely remarkable.”

The Richmond Hill, Ont. product has two home games in a row to reach the milestone before the Oilers hit the road, where their next contest would be… fittingly… at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto against the Maple Leafs this coming Saturday.

But it’s fair to say his teammates and coaches aren’t hoping that he holds onto that offence until they touch down in Ontario.

“I’d be very happy if he got that tomorrow night and not strung it along, but yeah, we’re cheering for him,” Knoblauch said with a smile.