Oilers at Islanders
The New York Islanders vie for their ninth straight home victory over the Edmonton Oilers when the clubs meet at the Barclays Center on Sunday afternoon. The Islanders haven't lost at home to the Oilers since Dec. 14, 1999 - when top overall pick and current Edmonton star Connor McDavid was just one month shy of his third birthday.
Fast forward to the present and New York hasn't been doing as well of late, falling for the 11th time in 19 contests (8-10-1) with a 5-1 setback to Detroit on Saturday. Captain John Tavares, who scored a power-play goal in the third period against Detroit, has notched seven points (three goals, four assists) in six career meetings with Edmonton. The Oilers also suffered a 5-1 loss on Saturday afternoon, as coach Todd McLellan was less than pleased with his team's compete level against Montreal. "That's as bad as we've been in a long time," McLellan told the Oilers' website. "To a man, usually you get five, six, seven guys that give each other a pretty good night. We even lacked that. From the skill players, the workers, the positional players on down, it was a pretty flat night."
TV: 2:30 p.m. ET, RSN West (Edmonton), MSG Plus (New York)
ABOUT THE OILERS (21-27-5): Benoit Pouliot scored his team's lone tally on Saturday to extend his point streak to three games (two goals, three assists). Taylor Hall and Leon Draisaitl, on the other hand, saw their runs end at seven and three contests, respectively. Hall, however, has excelled when facing the Islanders, scoring three goals and setting up another in five career encounters.
ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (26-18-6): Jaroslav Halak yielded four goals on 13 shots en route to an early exit on Saturday but is expected to return to the crease versus Edmonton. "He'll find his groove hopefully going forward here," coach Jack Capuano told the team's website. "It just wasn't his night." Kyle Okposo, who set up Tavares' goal on Saturday for his team-leading 25th assist, will be playing in his 499th career contest versus Edmonton.
OVERTIME
1. Edmonton went 0-for-3 on the power play Saturday after going 5-for-6 over its previous two contests.
2. New York is 6-2-1 against Pacific Division representatives.
3. Oilers RW Teddy Purcell has notched an assist in back-to-back contests but has failed to score a goal in all 17 career meetings with the Islanders.