New York Islanders Get Early Wake Up Call vs. Edmonton Oilers

If the New York Islanders were feeling good about themselves after that 4-1 over the Winnipeg Jets, their 5-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers certainly grounded them.

It’s never good to get embarrassed. Getting embarrassed at home so early in the season might be a bit worse. That’s what happened to the New York Islanders after losing 5-2 to James Neal and the Edmonton Oilers.

After pumping four goals past the Winnipeg Jets, the Islanders were hopefully going to build on that win and try to take care of another weak defensive team. That’s not what happened at all. If anything, the exact opposite took place.

The Oilers played a solid defensive game and carved out some offensive from an unlikely source.

First Period

It was great! Until it wasn’t.

Just after the halfway mark of the first period, the New York Islanders were up 1-0, thanks to none other than

Anthony Beauvillier

. One of the Islanders first-round pick in 2015 – thank you Edmonton – now has four points on the season.

Through the first 16 games of the season in 2018-19, Beau only had one point. So you can say things are going much better for Beau this season.

But things quickly went downhill for the Islanders.

In less than two minutes, James Neal – yeah, that James Neal – scored two goals to give the Oilers the lead. His second goal came on the power play after Brock Nelson took a double minor penalty for high-sticking Oscar Klefbom.

James Neal had seven goals in 63 games in 2018-19, he now has six in three games. What a turn around. Somewhere Ken Holland is smiling ear-to-ear.

But with the way the Islanders have played in the second period this season things could turn around!

Second Period

Things could turn around, but they didn’t. Oh, boy. They didn’t.

Within seven minutes of play James Neal completed his hat-trick. Two minutes after that Zack Kassian made it 4-1 for the Oilers. Varlamov was pulled for Thomas Greiss. And the Islanders needed to find a way back into the game.

Things were made more complicated with Brock Nelson being benched by Barry Trotz. After Nelson’s undisciplined first period, Trotz decided to keep him on the bench. With six minutes of penalties in the first period. Bringing his total on the season to ten. He had 28 during the entirety of last season.

Third Period

Remember James Neal? The guy who had seven goals last season? The guy who was traded for Milan Lucic? He got his fourth goal of the game and sixth of the season seven minutes into the third period.

Again, Ken Holland, take a bow.

Thankfully, Noah Dobson set up

Matt Martin

with a beautiful pass across the slot. Officially, that is the only thing I chose to remember from this game.

The Islanders just didn’t have an answer for anything the Edmonton Oilers were throwing at them tonight. Defensively the Islanders looked lost. Offensively the Islanders just couldn’t find any space. But Noah Dobson got a point so that’s all that matters.

Three Stars

1. Anthony Beauvillier (LW) | 1 goal, 3 SOG

He’s still scoring goals. He’s now at two goals and two assists early in the season. In a tough loss where most of the team looked bad, Beauvillier was one of the few good players out there.

2. Noah Dobson (D) | 1 assist, 3 SOG

The 19-year-old picked up his first assist in the NHL and it was a beauty. Overall his first game in the NHL was “OK”. He was shaky to start but ended up growing in confidence as he got more ice-time. Good things are coming from Dobson.

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3. The Crowd

They were loud, they were present, and they didn’t deserve to see what they saw tonight. If you were there, you deserved better.