When last the Islanders and Oilers met, the Isles did Edmonton the favor of being the sacrificial lamb as they got their new-coach bounce under Kris Knoblauch on Nov. 13. The Oilers have mostly been on a tear since then, and are 8-2 in their last 10 to climb back 13-14-1.
That’s still five points behind the second wild card spot in the West, but they’ve restored hope.
The Islanders, too, have mostly been getting results since that meeting. There were lots of blown third-period leads but also consistently collected points that sure helped once they started putting some wins together.