Two days after their goaltender bailed them out of a sure loss in Madison Square Garden, the Edmonton Oilers had no guardian angel to save them on Long Island.
This time they got what they deserved.
A well-earned 4-2 defeat at the hands of the previously winless New York Islanders.
The Oilers were one of only six teams in the NHL that hadn’t lost a game in regulation yet (2-0-1) while the Islanders were the only team in the league that didn’t have a single point (0-3-0)
It had all the makings of a walkover.
But it’s hard to walk over something when your feet are full of self-inflicted bullet wounds.
How a team that locked it down so perfectly two games ago against Vancouver could be so sloppy in its next two outings is a mystery. You can probably just chalk it up to being the first two weeks of the season because this team knows better than that, but Thursday night was a dog’s breakfast.
“Yeah, every once in a while you have one of those,” said defenceman Mattias Ekholm. “We did it to ourselves most of the night, everybody saw that.”
Bad puck management, costly turnovers, woeful situational awareness and untimely penalties all contributed to their first loss of the regular season (2-1-1). The Islanders hit for the cycle in this one, scoring at even strength, on the power play, short-handed and into the empty net.
“They were sneaking in behind us, we gave up three or four breakaways in the first half of the game, which is just unacceptable,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “And then we take three minors in the third period, which is not helping us score a go-ahead goal.”
Matthew Schaefer #48 of the New York Islanders attempts to get past Isaac Howard #53 of the Edmonton Oilers during the second period at UBS Arena on October 16, 2025 in Elmont, New York.
HORRID NIGHT FOR BOUCHARD
The Oilers looked like they were in a fog to start this one and nobody had a tougher go of it than Evan Bouchard. He’s earned his reputation as a clutch, playoff superstar, but this was regular-season Bouchard at his absolute worst.
“I’ve seen Evan play better,” sighed Knoblauch. “Evan is a fantastic player, one of the best in the league, certainly one of the beat defencemen in the NHL. Tonight was not his night.”
He turned the puck over in the slot on the first shift and the only reason it wasn’t 1-0 Islanders in the first 30 seconds is that Kyle Palmieri hit the post.
That was just the start. Later in the period Bouchard let Anthony Duclair get behind him for a breakaway and then fell down and turned the puck over on the same shift to give Duclair another point-blank look.
Then he put the cherry on top by getting way too casual as the last man back at centre ice, allowing Matt Barzal to take the puck away from him with almost no effort and score on the ensuing breakaway.
There was more. Late in the second period, with Edmonton up 2-1 and on the power play, he lost focus and skated way out of position, letting Bo Horvat get behind him to score on another breakaway.
It was a one-man tragic comedy. With Bouchard you take the bad with the good, but that might have been the worst 40 minutes of his career.
“People can be hard on him for the mistakes but you also have to look at the upside of what he brings,” said Ekholm. “I’m sure he knows he could have made some other decisions but there are other nights where he makes everyone look silly, doing things I wouldn’t even think of. So I’d be careful criticizing him because that’s who he is.
“He would want this game back but there are nights when things like this are going to happen and one of Evan’s superpowers is he forgets quick and goes out there and plays his game. I’m pretty sure we’ll see a different Bouchard on Saturday.”
Bouchard is an elite player whose positive side of the ledger always outweighs the negative, but they all know he can’t sleep walk through games like this no matter how good his upside is.
“We cannot just accept that,” said Knoblauch. “Mistakes happen, but you have to address what type of mistakes are happening. Evan is one of our best players and we have to have him playing as one of our best.”
Andrew Mangiapane #88 of the Edmonton Oilers attempts to get past Ryan Pulock #6 of the New York Islanders during the first period at UBS Arena on October 16, 2025 in Elmont, New York.
THIRD AND NOTHING
Edmonton took five minor penalties in the game, including two late ones in the third period (Troy Stecher at 11:18 and Trent Frederic at 15:07) and New York turned that momentum into a win, with Horvat scoring the power-play winner at 15:14.
“We’d already taken two penalties in the third period,” said Knoblauch. “And the last one, high sticking in the offensive zone … all penalties are tough but that one was especially tough.”
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com