4 Takeaways From Oilers’ 4-2 Loss to Islanders

Then, while Edmonton was on the power play leading 2-1 in the second period, Bouchard left his man, allowing Horvat to get wide open. Jean-Gabriel Pageau made a beautiful pass to spring Horvat on a breakaway, and moments later the puck was behind Skinner with the scoreboard reading 2-2.

Finally, in the dying seconds of the third period, with Edmonton pressing for the tying goal while Skinner was pulled for the extra attacker, Bouchard missed a check, allowing Jonathan Drouin to get the puck out of the Islanders’ zone and up the ice, where Drouin fed Horvat for the New York centre’s hat trick goal at 19:51.

Bouchard finished the game with a plus/minus of minus-3, equaling the worst rating of his NHL regular season career.

Solid Night for Skinner

Skinner can’t be faulted for any of the three goals that got by him on Thursday, including what proved to be the game-winner from Horvat on an Islanders power play with just under five minutes remaining in the third period. The Oilers netminder bailed out his teammates (including Bouchard) with a couple big saves earlier in the game and gave Edmonton a chance to win.

It was an encouraging performance for Skinner, who didn’t have a great night in Edmonton’s season-opening shootout loss to the Calgary Flames on Oct. 8, but bounced back with a shutout against the New York Rangers on Tuesday (Oct. 14). He’s shown these last two games what Oil Country wants to see consistently from Skinner.

Oilers Trail For First Time

Edmonton hadn’t trailed for a single second in its first three games, but that streak came to an end on Barzal’s goal at 16:23 of the first period. The Oilers answered quickly, with Draisaitl tallying on the power-play only 77 seconds later to make the score 1-1 and then took the lead on Nugent-Hopkins’ goal midway through the middle frame.

A big reason for Edmonton’s 2-0-1 start is that the Oilers hadn’t been chasing the game, and for the most part, they weren’t chasing the game on Long Island, either: they were ahead on the scoreboard for 9:03 of Thursday’s contest and trailed for only 6:03. This, however, marks the second time in four games this season that Edmonton has blown a late second period lead.

Oilers’ Hit Total Hits New Low

After averaging 19 hits over their first three games, the Oilers recorded a paltry seven hits at UBS Arena. That’s the fewest by any team so far in the 2025-26 NHL season and tied for the fourth-lowest single-game hit total for the Oilers since 2009.

Edmonton was led by winger Vasily Podkolzin with two hits. Troy Stecher was the only Oilers blueliner to record a hit.

Hit totals need to be taken with a grain of salt, considering that more hits often correlate with a lack of puck possession. And indeed, Edmonton did outshoot the Islanders on Thursday. But with that said, it’s almost inconceivable that a team’s blue line would combine for one hit total.

On a positive defensive note, Darnell Nurse deserves praise for racking up six blocked shots. The veteran rearguard now has a team-high 13 blocks this season and ranks third in the entire NHL with an average of 3.25 blocked shots per game.

The Oilers now head to Newark, where they’ll face the host New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on Saturday (Oct. 18) afternoon.