Ryan Nugent-Hopkins opened and closed a three-goal second-period flurry Saturday afternoon for the visiting Edmonton Oilers, who cruised past the New York Islanders 4-0.
Vasily Podkolzin scored the middle goal in the second while Jason Dickinson added an empty-netter late in the third for the Oilers, who have won two straight following their only set of back-to-back losses this season.
Goalie Tristan Jarry made 18 saves in his second consecutive shutout. Jarry had 24 saves in Edmonton’s 4-0 win over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night.
Connor McDavid extended his record season-opening assist streak to 14 games by collecting the primary helper on Nugent-Hopkins’ second goal. Wayne Gretzky, Ken Linseman and Sebastian Aho previously held the season-opening assist record at 12 games apiece.
Goalie Ilya Sorokin recorded 20 saves for the Islanders, who had their two-game winning streak snapped as they were held without a point for just the second time in the last nine games (5-2-2).
The Oilers outshot the Islanders 7-3 during a scoreless first before collecting three goals in the final 11-plus minutes of the second.
Nugent-Hopkins opened the scoring at the 8:42 mark following an Islanders turnover deep in their zone. New York defenseman Logan Stanley briefly had control of the puck after Kasperi Kapanen chipped it through the neutral zone , but Kapanen swiped the puck and fed Nugent-Hopkins, who went to one knee as he neared the crease and beat Sorokin from point-blank range.
Podkolzin doubled the lead just 68 seconds later. Sorokin deflected Evan Bouchard’s shot from the blue line, but the puck bounced to Leon Draisaitl before he dished across the crease to a wide open Podkolzin, who buried a shot into the left corner of the net as Kyle MacLean slid in front of him.
The Oilers, who entered Saturday leading the NHL with a 35.71 power play percentage, scored on their third man advantage opportunity with 1:34 left. McDavid extended his assists streak by passing across the crease to Nugent-Hopkins, who tapped in the puck.
Dickinson scored his empty-netter with 2:37 left in the third.
