Game Preview: NY Islanders vs Edmonton Oilers 01/05/2023

Last Game

Last time out the NY Islanders took care of business in Western Canada, taking down the Vancouver Canucks 6-2. The only goal of the first period came from Bo Horvat of the Canucks, but the Isles would pot three each in the second and third periods. Aatu Räty got the Islanders on the board with his second career goal, continuing to show his talents and capabilities. JG Pageau scored on the power play to take the lead, followed by Mathew Barzal sniping a shot in against his hometown team to make it 3-1. Anders Lee, Casey Cizikas and Pageau scored in the third to pad the Islanders' lead and secure the victory. Ilya Sorokin made 24 saves on 26 shots.

The Edmonton Oilers' last game was a demoralizing loss on home ice to the Seattle Kraken, ending with a 5-2 final score that was somewhat similar to the Canucks playing against the Islanders. Edmonton started off strong, leading 2-0 very early into the second period off of goals from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid, but things quickly fell off the rails for the Oilers, allowing five straight goals to blow their 2-0 lead, with four of the Seattle goals coming in the second period. Stuart Skinner did not have his best night either by any means, only making 16 saves on 20 shots faced all night.

Historical Matchup

The Islanders have won their last two games against the Oilers at UBS Arena, one of which coming this season in a 3-0 shutout victory. Pageau scored both a power-play goal and a shorthanded goal, similar to the other night against Vancouver, and Sebastien Aho made it 3-0 to close out the second period allowing the Isles to shut the door in the third. These teams played on New Year's Day last season at UBS as well in an overtime win courtesy of Noah Dobson. Last time the blue and orange were in Edmonton however, they would lose in a tight game by a score of 3-1. Anthony Beauvillier scored the only goal for New York, with Cody Ceci, Zach Hyman and Jesse Puljujarvi contributing the goals for Edmonton in their victory.

Players to Watch

Barzal has certainly started to heat up for the Isles, which is great to see considering how many games he went to before scoring his first goal (18). Now, he has started to shoot the puck a lot more and has been rewarded for it, scoring six goals in his last six games while scoring at least one goal in each of his last four games. In his last outing with his entire family in the house in Vancouver, the British Columbia native registered one goal along with two assists, making it one of his best of the season. The Oilers are a team that the Isles may need to just try to keep up with because on any given night they can get hot, and Barzal will be a factor in the Isles' keeping up.

Connor McDavid will almost always be the player to watch for anybody watching a game with him involved in it. He is undoubtedly the best and most dynamic player in the world and is reaching new heights by scoring an astounding 33 goals and 40 assists for 73 points in just 39 games this season. He is just coming off a 17 games point streak ending at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets but was able to score again in his recent matchup with the Kraken. There are not many that can suppress McDavid and his high offensive production, so the Isles will most certainly have their hands full.

Projected Lines

Islanders

Josh Bailey-Mathew Barzal-Casey Cizikas
Anders Lee-Brock Nelson-Hudson Fasching
Zach Parise-JG Pageau-Anthony Beauvillier
Matt Martin- Aatu Räty-Ross Johnston

Alexander Rmanov-Noah Dobson
Parker Wotherspoon-Scott Mayfield
Sebastian Aho- Ryan Pulock

Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlmov

Injuries: Adam Pelech, Cal Clutterbuck, Oliver Wahlstrom, Simon Holmstrom, Kyle Palmieri (All DTD).

Oilers

Klim Kostin-Connor McDavid-Zach Hyman
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins-Leon Draisaitl-Kailer Yamamoto
Warren Foegele-Ryan McLeod-Jesse Puljujarvi
Mattias Janmark-Dylan Holloway-Derek Ryan

Darnell Nurse-Cody Cici
Brett Kulak-Tyson Barrie
Philip Broberg- Evan Bouchard

Stuart Skinner
Jack Campbell

Lines via Daily Faceoff