Oilers rally for shootout win over Islanders
NEW YORK -- Mark Letestu scored the only goal in the shootout on Saturday night to lift the Edmonton Oilers to a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the New York Islanders at Barclays Center.
Letestu, the third Oilers shooter, faked Islanders goaltender Jaroslav Halak and buried the net in the upper right corner of the net as Edmonton (8-3-1) snapped a three-game losing streak.
Patrick Maroon, Leon Draisaitl and Milan Lucic also scored for the Oilers, who trailed 2-0 less than six minutes into the first period.
Goalie Cam Talbot made 32 saves in regulation and overtime, including a stop by John Tavares on breakaway in the final 15 seconds of overtime, before stopping all three shots he faced in the shootout.
Nick Leddy, Shane Prince and Casey Cizikas also scored for the Islanders (4-6-2), who have lost two straight shootouts and are 0-1-2 in their last three games.
Halak posted 22 saves, including point-blank stops at the doorstep of Tyler Pitlick and Connor McDavid in overtime.
A wild first period began with Cal Clutterbuck -- making a rare start on the first line -- collecting a puck along the boards and passing across the ice to Leddy, who fired a shot under Talbot's right arm at 13 seconds.
The Islanders doubled the lead at 5:49, when Dennis Seidenberg's backhanded pass into the crease -- which appeared to be targeted for Nikolay Kulemin -- ticked off the skates of Matthew Benning and Connor McDavid to Prince, who swooped in and beat Talbot from point-blank range.
The Oilers tied the score in a span of less than four minutes. Maroon cut the gap in half when he redirected Jordan Eberle's shot from just inside the blue line at 8:22.
Maroon set up the tying goal with 7:47 left in the period, when his shot was blocked by Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic. The puck bounced in front of the net, but New York defenseman Calvin De Haan could not clear it before Draisaitl pounced in the faceoff circle and fired past Halak.
Hamonic, who appeared to be hit in the arm by the shot, departed with an upper-body injury and did not return.
The Islanders took a 3-2 lead 8:42 into the second period when Talbot could not clear a shot by Seidenberg. Cizikas bore in and put back the rebound.
Lucic tied the score on a power play goal with 3:10 left in the period, when he picked up a rebound of Eberle's shot and fired a shot that skittered under Halak's legs.
NOTES: The Islanders scratched C Mathew Barzal, G Jean-Francois Berube and C Alan Quine. ... New York rookie LW Anthony Beauvillier was active and played in his 10th game, which means he will be credited with a full year of contract service. ... The Oilers scratched D Kris Russell (lower body) as well as D Dillon Simpson and LW Anton Slepyshev. ... Oilers G Cam Talbot is the only goalie to start all his team's games this season. Columbus Blue Jackets G Sergei Bobrovsky started the first nine games before sitting in favor of G Curtis McElhinney against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night.