Leon Draisaitl scores twice to lead Oilers past Islanders
Field Level Media
15 Mar 2025

(Photo credit: Thomas Salus-Imagn Images)
Leon Draisaitl scored twice, including the game-winner with 1:07 left in overtime Friday night, as the Edmonton Oilers edged the New York Islanders 2-1 in Elmont, N.Y.
Oilers goalie Calvin Pickard turned back a shot by Pierre Engvall to set up the sequence that ended with Draisaitl beating Ilya Sorokin on a semi-breakaway.
Draisaitl, who opened the scoring in the second, has 49 goals, tops in the NHL, and 100 points. He's reached 100 points in six of the last seven seasons.
Pickard made 24 saves as the Oilers snapped a two-game losing streak and won for the fourth time in 12 games (4-8-0).
Bo Horvat scored in the third for the Islanders, who have lost three straight (0-2-1) but inched within four points of the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot. Goalie Ilya Sorokin recorded 33 saves.
The Oilers outshot the Islanders 17-6 in a scoreless first, when Sorokin robbed Vasily Podkolzin with a kick save with a little under six minutes left.
An Islanders turnover led to Draisaitl's goal 8:46 into the second. Noah Dobson's chip from the New York zone eluded Anders Lee and skittered to Evan Bouchard, who passed to Connor Brown. The right winger then dished to Draisaitl, who fired a shot from the left faceoff circle beyond the extended stick of Adam Pelech and past Sorokin's glove.
The Islanders returned the favor by taking advantage of an Oilers miscue to tie the game just 81 seconds into the third. Darnell Nurse sent a no-look pass to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who appeared to try to pass the puck back to Nurse in the left faceoff circle in the New York zone. But the pass clipped off Horvat's stick and Horvat collected it before racing up the right side of the ice and beating Pickard stick side.
The Islanders' Anthony Duclair missed a chance on a breakaway a little more than three minutes later, when his shot sailed wide right of the net.
Both goalies made nifty saves late in the period. Pickard turned back a shot in the crease by Hudson Fasching with 5:03 left before Sorokin deflected Brown's shot 49 seconds later.--Field Level Media