Special teams lift Islanders past Oilers

ELMONT, N.Y. -- The New York Islanders scored three goals on special teams in the second period of a 3-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers at UBS Arena on Tuesday.

Bo Horvat and Anders Lee each scored a power-play goal, and Simon Holmstrom scored short-handed for the Islanders (15-8-8), who had lost two straight but improved to 6-1-2 in December. Ilya Sorokin made 30 saves.

“There was a lot of commitment to winning,” Islanders forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau said. "That commitment means winning your battles, clearing the puck or blocking shots, and you saw a lot of that tonight.”

The Islanders played with 11 forwards for the majority of the game after Julien Gauthier sustained an injury at 1:58 of the second period.

“I thought we were resilient,” New York coach Lane Lambert said. “We had to move some people around, mixed the lines around on a consistent basis because of the fact that we weren't trying to tax people too much. All the forwards did a good job. I thought our defense played well, but I thought our forwards did a good job of trying to manage their ice time.”

Leon Draisaitl scored for the Oilers (13-15-1), who have lost three straight. Stuart Skinner made 18 saves.

“[Special teams] was the main culprit,” Edmonton forward Derek Ryan said. “I thought we played a little sloppy in the second, some turnovers in the neutral zone, and (we) let the game get away from us a little bit there. But obviously, special teams were a major difference.”

Draisaitl gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead at 1:23 of the first period when he skated into the left circle on a rush and beat Sorokin under his glove.

Lee tied it 1-1 at 2:39 of the second period, jamming in a loose puck after Kyle Palmieri's initial shot trickled past Skinner.

Horvat gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead at 11:30. He beat Skinner blocker side from the low slot off a pass from Brock Nelson.

“You're just hoping that he finds you. You kind of feel like in that moment you have empty space, and you're just trying to find the hole, and Nelson made a heck of a play to get it over to me,” Horvat said. “I didn’t have much time at all anywhere out there. I felt the puck on my stick. I wanted to get it off as quick as possible, not only for the guys around me, but I didn’t want to allow the goaltender to get over. So thankfully it went in.”

Holmstrom scored his NHL-leading fifth short-handed goal to extend the lead to 3-1 at 14:10, burying a one-timer off a pass from Pageau on a 2-on-1.

Shortly after Holmstrom's goal, Robert Bortuzzo was assessed a minor penalty for holding, but New York was able to kill off the 5-on-3 power play for 58 seconds.

“It was great from everyone, from the goalie to our defensemen,” Pageau said. “Everyone chipped in. The power play scored two big goals. We did a great job to kill that 5-on-3. [Casey] Cizikas was outstanding. The goalie was great. I think that's a really great team effort.”

Edmonton outshot New York 15-3 in the third period.

“We spent a lot of time in the offensive zone. I think to score in this league, or any league for that matter, is to go hard to the net,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “I don’t think we had enough traffic in front of their goaltender. I thought our puck play was good. We have to get more bodies around their goaltender.”

NOTES: Horvat extended his point streak to 11 games (eight goals, nine assists). ... Oilers forward Connor McDavid had his 12-game point streak end (seven goals, 21 assists).