PREVIEW: Oilers at Islanders

The Edmonton Oilers are back in action for the second of back-to-back games on Friday night on Long Island at UBS Arena against the New York Islanders.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 5:30 pm MDT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 880 CHED.

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ELMONT, NY – Following a disappointing result against the Devils, the Oilers will be looking to respond to their 3-2 defeat on Thursday when they wrap up a back-to-back set as part of their four-game road trip on Friday at UBS Arena against the Islanders.

“It's one day at a time,” defenceman Brett Kulak said. “There are things we did good tonight. You’ve got to focus on that. And it's a back-to-back, so the puck's going to be dropping again before we know it, so you better feel good and be ready to go.”

“We can't start pointing fingers at anyone. None of us are happy, and that's kind of the easy thing to do when you get frustrated. But we got to stick together and dig ourselves out.”

The Oilers and Islanders will wage the 'Battle of Blue & Orange' for the second and final time this season following Edmonton's 4-3 overtime victory at Rogers Place back on Nov. 12, where a one goal and three assist effort from Connor McDavid, three points (1G, 2A) from Evan Bouchard and two goals from Leon Draisaitl – including the OT winner – gave them the victory.

The Oilers dropped to third place in the Pacific Division by way of a Kings’ victory last night over the Capitals and 3-8-0 over their last 11 games since the 4 Nations Face-Off break after giving up a 2-1 lead in the span of 1:25 during the third period versus New Jersey.

Draisaitl extended his point streak to 16 games with his 47^th goal of the season that tied the game in the second period before Bouchard’s 13^th early in the third had the Oilers ahead temporarily prior to being beaten twice in quick succession. Jesper Bratt put one through traffic to tie things 2-2, and Simon Nemec did the same with the go-ahead goal less than two minutes later that wound up as the game winner.

Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said it was a disheartening way to finish considering how well they’d navigated the opening 40 minutes in what was a tightly-contested game before they committing a few errors in a similar fashion to some of their struggles in recent games.

“It was nice to see that we came out well in the third period and had some chances,” he said. “We got the goal from Bouchard with nice shots and Hyman in front. And then I guess the turning point in the third period is when we had an offensive zone faceoff and we played for a little bit, but then, we turn the puck over in the neutral zone against their top line that's been loaded up and that turn leads us play defensive in the defensive zone.

“It's our fourth line against their top line and we turn the puck over, which they capitalize on. It’s something that just absolutely can't happen, especially with a 2-1 lead.”

The Oilers shuffled their lines for a spark in the second period and got the response they wanted through Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, who combined with Zach Hyman to help contribute to their side taking the lead. McDavid added two assists to push his assist streak to nine games, while Bouchard now has three goals in four games as part of a seven-game point streak (4G, 3A).

Despite being able to generate through their big contributors, the Oilers haven’t received enough from their depth as mentioned by one of those players in forward Adam Henrique, who combined with Edmonton’s forwards outside of McDavid, Draisaitl and Hyman was minus-9 on Thursday in Newark.

"I thought everyone contributed a little bit more early in the game," Knoblauch said. "There probably wasn't enough there, but I just remember in the third period that Henrique's line had some scrambles around the net and had a couple shots. I remember Skinner coming on down the off the rush and had a good shot there, but we'll obviously look at it and when I watch it the next day, my perception changes a little bit.

"But I thought I saw some good things in the third period that we are going to have to follow up with."

Outside of a few good chances in the third period, there wasn’t much coming from anywhere other than the Oilers’ top line, and Henrique says it’s on them to get to the dirty areas and score some hard-working goals.

“The big guys are scoring. They score all the time,” Henrique said. “I think for us, from our line down, the depth needs to try and find some ugly goals; to be momentum boosters and to find that next one.

“You just got to work through it,” he added. “You got to work and sometimes it just takes those ugly ones to get you going the right direction. So we got another opportunity tomorrow and we'll have a good pushback.”

The Oilers will take on an Islanders team that's holding on in the playoff race by sitting five points back of the Blue Jackets for the final Wild Card Spot in the Eastern Conference with a game in hand.

The Islanders have struggled against Pacific Division opponents this year with a 5-6-2 record and have the third-hardest remaining schedule to nagivate down the stretch, while the Oilers have the second best when sorted by opposing win percentage (.575 vs .530).