Islanders crumble to talented Oilers in OT as obvious issue rears its head

The Islanders spent the three games prior to Friday looking like a group that had just watched their best friend get traded. That no longer was the case at home against Edmonton.Instead, they looked like a group that had just watched their best scorer get traded. The intensity that had been missing earlier in the week, at least, was back.

But all that meant was there was no place to look for the cause of this 2-1 overtime defeat on home ice against the Oilers aside from what’s fast becoming obvious: The Islanders have got a scoring problem on their hands. After Friday, it’s three goals over their past 180:00 of hockey, a mark that would be alarming at any point of the season, but especially now.Against a more talented Oilers team — but one the Isles regularly have played tough over the past few seasons — the ice was tilted for much of the night prior to Leon Draisaitl’s game-winner, with Ilya Sorokin the main reason this didn’t get out of hand in the first period. Nominally, at least, there is a playoff race here — the Islanders gained ground even by losing Friday by virtue of going to OT.

With six home games in seven, Friday included, this is a stretch in which the Islanders, now four points back of a spot, must take advantage.What’s a lot less clear is whether they can. There were not many Grade-A looks for the Isles in this one — there have not been since the Brock Nelson trade — but those there were often served to highlight the club’s lack of scorers.Like the two-on-one rush at four-on-four with Alexander Romanov and Tony DeAngelo early in the second, with nary a forward in sight.

Or the odd-man rush later in the period, when Bo Horvat fed Scott Mayfield, only for Mayfield to fumble the puck, then take a penalty in short order. Meanwhile, Draisaitl’s cannon boom of a slap shot at 8:46 of the second was enough for the Oilers to take a 1-0 lead into the third, even with Sorokin looking his unflappable best and bailing out a series...