The suddenly-hot New York Islanders will aim for a fourth
consecutive victory when they host the struggling Edmonton Oilers tonight at
Nassau Coliseum.
The Islanders began the year with losses in nine of their first 10 games, but
have since rattled off three straight victories. The most recent win came in
dominating fashion, as New York hosted the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday and
pounded its intrastate rivals, 5-0.
Martin Biron made 38 saves for his 200th career win and Jeff Tambellini
recorded his first career hat trick to lift the Isles to the easy win at the
Coliseum.
Biron signed with the Islanders in this offseason after playing 11 seasons in
Buffalo and Philadelphia. The victory was Biron's first as an Islander, while
the shutout was the 26th of his career.
"I felt like I've been getting better after every game," Biron said. "Steadily
getting the way I want to play. It's good to get the guys a bit of a
confidence boost."
Richard Park had a goal and an assist while Josh Bailey also lit the lamp for
the Islanders.
Tambellini now has six goals in eight games this year and is just one tally
away from tying his career-best total of seven goals set in 65 games last
season.
The Isles are 3-2-2 as the host this year and are capping a brief two-game
homestand tonight. Following this evening's game, New York will play nine of
its next 10 games on the road, beginning with Wednesday's stop in Buffalo.
The Oilers, meanwhile, have lost four of their last five games and are coming
off a shutout loss Saturday in Boston. Blake Wheeler tallied the go-ahead goal
early in the third period and Tuukka Rask stopped all 19 shots in the Bruins'
2-0 decision at TD Garden.
Nikolai Khabibulin turned aside 25-of-27 shots for the Oilers, who were unable
to build off Thursday's 6-5 home shootout win over Detroit.
"I don't think we generated that many quality chances," Oilers forward
Fernando Pisani said. "We let him (Rask) see everything. We didn't really get
any bodies in front of him. He's going to make those stops if he can see
them."
The Oilers have been bit by the flu bug recently and three Edmonton skaters
(Mike Comrie, Shawn Horcoff and Lubomir Visnovsky) are questionable for
tonight's test with the illness. Oilers defenseman Ladislav Smid had battled
swine flu previously, but has since recovered and Edmonton hasn't revealed if
Comrie, Horcoff and Visnovsky are stricken with the same sickness.
Edmonton has lost its last four road games and is just 1-4-0 as the visitor
this season. Next up for the Oilers is Thursday's home tilt against the New
York Rangers.
The Oilers earned a 3-2 home win over the Islanders in the only meeting
between the clubs in 2008-09. Edmonton has won two straight in the series
after dropping the previous six encounters, but the Isles have still taken
four in a row at the Coliseum.
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