Islanders surge past Oilers 4-1

EDMONTON, Alberta -- Anders Lee helped the New York Islanders keep pace in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Lee scored a pair of goals and the Islanders earned a 4-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night.

Joshua Ho-Sang, with his first career NHL goal, and Andrew Ladd also scored for the Islanders, who snapped a two-game losing skid.

The Islanders are a point ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the final wild-card spot in the East.

"We were really good tonight," Lee said. "They're still going to get a lot of opportunities, but I think we limited them as much as possible and played a tight-knit game and you have to do that as much as possible in a building like this with their team. I think all four of our lines were going pretty well tonight."

Zack Kassian scored for the Oilers, who had a two-game winning streak snapped.

"Some mental mistakes cost us today," Oilers forward Milan Lucic said. "You have to be sharp, especially at this time of the year. It's a little wakeup call as to what the last 16 games are going to be like. We weren't sharp and the mental part of our game wasn't fully there. We have to learn from this, get better and turn the page, because it gets tougher from here on out."

The Islanders kicked off the scoring with 2:37 left in the first period as Ho-Sang scored on a power-play shot from the point that beat Oilers goalie Cam Talbot up high.

"It's really nice, there are no words to describe it," Ho-Sang said of his first goal. "It's such a relief to score and it makes you feel like you belong and things are possible and you know all your dreams are coming true in front of your eyes, which is cool. For me, it was a very special moment."

Edmonton tied it up three minutes into the second period as Kassian tipped Matt Benning's point shot past Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss, his second goal in as many games.

New York regained the lead midway through the second period as Lee picked up a loose rebound in the crease and slid home his 24th goal of the season.

The Islanders made it 3-1 seven minutes into the third as Brock Nelson put in some great work to send a backhand pass in front to Ladd for an easy tap-in. It was Ladd's sixth goal in the past 10 games.

Lee scored an empty-netter to put the game away.

Greiss stopped 27 shots while Talbot made 23 saves.

Game notes
It was the second and final meeting between the two teams this season. Edmonton won the first contest 4-3 in a shootout in Brooklyn in November. ... The Islanders came into the game with six straight losses in Edmonton dating back to March 13, 2003. Current Islanders GM Garth Snow was the winning goalie for New York in that game. ... New York defenseman and Edmonton native Johnny Boychuk missed his second straight game with a foot injury. ... With 55 points, Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl is just four points back of tying Marco Sturm for the most points by a German-born player in one season.

UP NEXT

Islanders: Return to action on Thursday in Vancouver

Oilers: Edmonton plays the third game of an eight-game homestand on Friday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.