EDMONTON, Alberta _ It was a night for Josh Ho-Sang, who scored his first NHL goal to get the Islanders on the board. A night for the sort of rebound game the Islanders have specialized in lately as they moved to 9-0-2 in their last 11 games after a regulation loss.
And a night for two crucial points in a 4-1 win over the Oilers at Rogers Place to keep a point ahead of the Leafs for the final wild-card spot in the East.
The Isles' first win in Edmonton since 2003 (0-5-1 in previous six visits) was a sharp turnaround from Sunday's loss in Calgary, with Thomas Greiss making 27 saves and the Islanders managing to contain Connor McDavid, who created some great scoring chances with his speed but was held off the score sheet.
After a strong penalty kill in the early minutes of the third, buoyed by a couple of shot blocks from Adam Pelech, the Islanders quickly turned things the other way and grabbed a crucial two-goal lead.
Brock Nelson and Andrew Ladd came down on the right side and Ladd snapped one off the side of the net. But Thomas Hickey, just out of the penalty box, made an alert play to keep the puck deep and Nelson fed Ladd once again in front. Ladd didn't miss this one, snapping home his 18th of the season at 7:04 of the third.
The Islanders didn't give the Oilers much after that, with Anders Lee scoring his second of the night into an empty net with 59.3 seconds to go.
The Islanders didn't start the second period strong but they finished it looking like the fresher team, forcing the Oilers into half a dozen icings over the final five minutes as the Isles increased their offensive zone time with the lead.
They got that edge back thanks to their top line, the trio that's been driving the team's revival over the last two months. John Tavares worked the puck below the goal line and fed Josh Bailey in the high slot. Cam Talbot denied Bailey's shot but Lee, parked in his usual spot a few inches clear of the crease, outmuscled Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom, kicked the puck to his stick and swept it around Talbot for his 24th of the season at 9:45 of the second.
The Isles' 1-0 lead entering the second only lasted to the 2:58 mark. A scattered shift in the defensive zone by Nelson's line left Matt Benning at the point with a straight-on wrist shot that Zack Kassian deflected by Greiss to even up the game.
The story of the first period was Greiss, who made 12 stops, including a few from in close and many generated by the ever-dangerous McDavid. Weight wanted the Calvin de Haan-Travis Hamonic pair on the ice to face McDavid, but not having the last change on the road forced all three Isles defense pairs to tangle with the Oilers superstar to mixed results.
But there was Ho-Sang, McDavid's youth hockey teammate, who grabbed the spotlight late in the first.
On their first power play of the night, the Islanders weren't generating much early on in the advantage. Not a surprise as they came into the game 0-for-10 over the previous five games and 2-for-24 over the previous 10.
But the newest addition to the second power-play unit got the Islanders on the board. Ho-Sang drifted back to the blue line, took a short feed from Hickey and wired a slap shot through a screen for his first NHL goal at 17:23, putting a big smile on the 21-year-old's face.
The Islanders went down to 11 forwards in the second period when Shane Prince left the game with an apparent leg injury after absorbing a big hit.
