Road-wary Islanders visit McDavid, Oilers

EDMONTON, Alberta -- Tuesday's matchup between the New York Islanders and the Edmonton Oilers could be the most important meeting of the two teams since the 1984 Stanley Cup final.

The Oilers are embroiled in a battle for playoff position in the Pacific Division, and look good to make the postseason for the first time in a decade. The Islanders are in a fierce dogfight for an Eastern Conference wild-card position.

For the Islanders, this is the seventh contest of a franchise-high nine-game road trip. They haven't played in Brooklyn since Feb. 19, and won't be back there until next Monday.

For New York coach Doug Weight, it will be an emotional return to Edmonton. Weight is seventh on Edmonton's all-time scoring list; he accumulated 577 points in 588 career regular-season games as an Oiler. But he won't be reminiscing about old times -- he's thinking about what his team needs to do to stop Edmonton center Connor McDavid, who leads the NHL with 74 points.

Weight was a heck of playmaker when he played for the Oilers, but he admitted his skills pale in comparison to those of McDavid.

"What I like to think I could do, I wasn't the highest paced player, I tried to skate as fast as I could, but the puck wouldn't slow me down and it wouldn't make me look down, I could still see the ice," Weight told 630 CHED. "This guy (McDavid) is the fastest guy in the league and I believe he gets faster when the dang black thing's on his stick. I've never seen that."

Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk missed Sunday's 5-2 loss to Calgary with a foot injury and will be a game-time decision.

Oilers defenseman Kris Russell missed Saturday's 4-3 win over Detroit with a lower-body ailment but has been back at practice.

Edmonton defenseman Oscar Klefbom missed practice Sunday as he was feeling ill, but was back on the ice Monday.

"I didn't feel great," said Klefbom. "I had a nice day yesterday, I drank a lot, I ate a lot, so I feel better and should be good to go tomorrow."

This will be the second contest of an eight-game homestand for the Oilers

"It is really in our control," Oilers center Mark Letestu said. "We've put ourselves in a position that we're ahead of the teams chasing us. If we take care of what we've got, with a favorable home schedule, there shouldn't be any worry of anything in the rear-view."

The teams the Oilers are monitoring are Anaheim and the surging Calgary Flames. The Pacific Division is tight -- and, if any of those three teams get hot, catching the first-place San Jose Sharks isn't out of the question.

"March is a big month for us," Klefbom said. "And, obviously, Calgary is playing good hockey right now, and everything is in our hands."

The Islanders will try and recover from Sunday's loss in Calgary, which saw them give up a whopping 21 shots in the first period alone.

"Hopefully we can recharge the batteries," said Islanders center John Tavares, who scored in the loss and now has a team-leading 24 goals on the season.

"We've got to come out with a better start. We'll just try to refocus and know that letting mistakes pile like that or certainly when a team's able to put one or two in, we've got to find a way to stop the bleeding and obviously turn the momentum and make sure we give ourselves a chance."