EDMONTON (Alberta) — Cody Ceci Zach HymanEach scored a goal. Mike SmithStopped 37 shots and the Edmonton OilersBeat the New York IslandersFriday Night: 3-1
Jesse PuljujarviOilers also scored Connor McDavidJay Woodcroft got a win with two assists from Mike Smith in his NHL coaching debut. Mike Smith saved 37 shots, including 18 during the first period. This improved his season record to 3-4-1.
Woodcroft was promoted from Bakersfield, AHL to replace Dave Tippett who was fired on Wednesday.
Woodcroft stated, “It’s an excellent team win.” “I enjoyed the game today. I felt that our players played well together. Mike Smith put in a great performance, which allowed us to progress into the game. I think we got better each game.
“It has been an emotional couple days for this team. I’m happy for our players.”
Edmonton won a pair of games and is now 6-2-1 in its nine remaining games.
Hyman also praised Smith’s play.
Hyman stated that Hyman was “phenomenal.” “He gave us a chance all the way through tonight, made huge saves and was always steady the entire time.”
Anthony BeauvillierThe Islanders lost four out of six, but had a goal. Ilya SorokinWith 33 saves, it was done.
Beauvillier explained that “We want to balance all of the lines and have consistency between lines and I thought we had a good game tonight, all four lines went and we created a lot,” “It is unfortunate that we are getting out of this empty-handed.”
Barry Trotz, Islanders coach, said that his team should have had a lead in the first period.
He stated, “I thought that in the first quarter we had some really nice looks.” I thought we could have had a few more pucks in the first half. We didn’t score, but that was a mix of Mike Smith and us.
Edmonton was able to score a rare first goal when Ceci beat Sorokin in the opening period with a long point blast. Ceci had only 57 seconds left. Edmonton had scored their first goal six times in the previous 36 games. Oilers are now at 13-0 when they score the first goal.
Edmonton was leading 2-0 at the half-way mark of the second period. Hyman decided to shoot on a 2-on-1 chance and scored his 14th goal and 100th career goal.
New York was able to get back in the contest with the power play, which took five minutes. Smith won the middle frame. Beauvillier beat Smith glove side.
Midway through the third, the Oilers regained their lead of two goals on the power play. Puljujarvi jumped for a puck and beat Sorokin. His 11th goal ended a 14 game drought.