Oilers depth comes up big in win over Islanders

The Edmonton Oilers are now second overall in the National Hockey League standings.

A 4-0 win against the New York Islanders helped ensure that the Oilers would finish the night within the top four spots in the entire league. As of the start of the Saturday evening slate, the other three teams in that group were the Carolina Hurricanes, Minnesota Wild, and Boston Bruins.

Here's how the Oilers got to that point.

McDavid point streak continues, but Nugent-Hopkins and the middle-six get most of the say on Saturday

Connor McDavid's point streak to kickstart the 2026-27 NHL season is now 14 games.

It's nowhere close to the one that Wayne Gretzky put together to open the 1983-84 season, but it is what it is.

Even then, McDavid and Leon Draisaitl (who recorded two assists) weren't the stars of the forward group against the Islanders. That honor goes to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who was my player of the game pick against Calgary; he scored twice against the Islanders and recorded a plus 1 +/- rating.

Jason Dickinson also deserves some credit in this regard. He recorded his first goal of the season on Saturday against the Islanders, with the assists coming from an in-form Mathieu Joseph and Mattias Ekholm, who is recording a point per game post-injury-return. Alongside that goal, Dickinson added a little value on the defensive end of the ice, recording a block and two hits during the game.

Vasily Podkolzin was also able to add some scoring for the top-to-middle-six forward lines. His goal acted as both the insurance goal in the contest and his ninth in 14 contests to start the campaign. In addition, the goal continued his point-per-game pace through the aforementioned opening-season stretch.

Maybe the Oilers aren't a one-line team?

How to assess the special teams performance

The Oilers were able to draw a lot of penalties against the Islanders. That started with Isaac Howard drawing a kneeing penalty and an ejection on Emil Heineman, which gave the Oilers a five-minute power play early in the first.

Let me cut to the chase here: they didn't score. They created some chances, but the Islanders were able to deter any threat from the Oilers' power play and force a penalty of their own.

The Oilers got an additional five power play opportunities, but they were only able to convert on one of them. At the same time, the team's penalty kill continued to improve, surviving all four of New York's power play opportunities.

Though the power play goal extends the team's run of form on the power play, it's fair for fans to wonder what could have been in terms of the special teams play.

The Oilers did very well when it came to getting the puck up the ice

Say what you will about the scoring chances and the past goaltending struggles, but the Oilers' skating was extremely strong once again on Saturday.

They were able to hold the Isles in their own end for periods at a time, and the puck movement that came with their skating was quite fluid.

Who needs goalscoring when you've got good skating? The Oilers have both, so the question is more or less moot.

The goaltending has reached an unthinkable high

WE'VE HAD SIX CONSECUTIVE SHUTOUT PERIODS OF HOCKEY!

Even if the goaltending is mediocre the rest of the way, Oilers fans will certainly take this run of form.

With Devon Levi still recovering but on the Oilers' New York-New Jersey road trip, Tristan Jarry took over the reins of the starting goaltender position and did exactly what Edmonton expected of him and then some. Not only did he steady the ship, but he kept it on course. After recording a shutout against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday, Jarry stopped all 18 shots that he faced against the Islanders. As a result, the Oilers have now gone six periods without conceding a goal and have outscored their opposition 8-0 in the process.

Though the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils are both averaging over three goals per game, it would be an untoppable feat if the Oilers goaltending could get the team back to Rogers Place on the heels of another six periods of shutout hockey.

What's next?

The Oilers will continue their road trip with the second leg of their Halloween weekend back-to-back, which will take them to the always-iconic Madison Square Garden for a contest against the still-steady Rangers. Despite losing Igor Shesterkin to a season-ending injury, the Rangers are still above .500 on the season, though they are entering this hockey game on a three-game losing streak.

The puck drops on the Oilers' first game of November 2026 at 4:00 p.m. Alberta Time. Don't switch your clocks back if you're in Edmonton.