Edmonton Oilers coach had hilarious response to Draisaitl missing open net
The Edmonton Oilers threw everything at the New York Islanders on Thursday night, but couldn’t find a way past Ilya Sorokin.
It was a frustrating night for the Oilers, who outshot the Isles by a 35-18 margin and hit a couple of posts along the way for good measure. The shutout loss was Edmonton’s first regulation loss in six games and ended Connor McDavid’s point streak at 20 games.
Connor Ingram was excellent for the Oilers, but he couldn’t quite outduel Sorokin. Still, he ended the night with a solid .944 save percentage. Everything about this game screamed victory for Edmonton, everything except the scoreboard.
Perhaps the best chance for the Oilers to salvage a point out of this one came in the final minute of regulation. McDavid fed Leon Draisaitl with a cross-ice pass, giving the German a wide-open net to tie the game.
It’s a goal that Oilers fans have seen on countless occasions, but the puck rang off the far post, and Edmonton’s comeback bid was silenced.
Leon Draisaitl was CENTIMETERS away from tying it late, but the Islanders hold on. 😱
This would have also extended McDavid's point streak that now ends at 20 games ❌ pic.twitter.com/6xLO2enyAX
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 16, 2026
That missed chance summarized the night for the home side, who couldn’t buy a goal against the Islanders. According to MoneyPuck, the Oilers generated an incredible 5.34 expected goals throughout the game, meaning that Sorokin was the difference-maker on the night by a large margin.
Head coach Kris Knoblauch was asked about Draisaitl’s last-minute chance, to which he had a hilarious response.
“It probably would have went in if Leon had his skates behind the goal line, where he usually is. The angle was too good,” Knoblauch joked. “He’s scored in that situation. The arena thought it was going in cause they’ve seen that play so often, and our bench did too.
“It was just one of those nights.”
“We did pretty much everything but put the puck in the net.”
Coach Knobluach provides post-game comments after the #Oilers 1-0 loss. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/XJ9nmuYy4o
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) January 16, 2026
Draisaitl has garnered a reputation for being one of the league’s most dangerous shooters from below the goal line. Though he has patented that one-timer from the faceoff circle, perhaps the Oilers just needed a fluky goal to get them on the board.
Teammate Jake Walman also commented on the play postgame.
“99 out of 100 he’s [scoring] that,” Walman told reporters. “Keep giving him the puck in that same spot, and he’s got the next one.
“Sometimes it goes that way. When we had our looks, we ran into a hot goalie. I’m sure a bunch of us probably want to have a couple looks back and try again.”
“It was a goaltending game tonight.”
Jake Walman speaks after the #Oilers drop a 1-0 decision to New York at @RogersPlace. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/0dzxo88HcT
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) January 16, 2026
It’s a frustrating loss, but Edmonton played a very good game. They controlled the pace of play, generated a lot of good chances, and got some stellar goaltending from Ingram. That is a game that the Oilers will win more often than not.
They will try to channel that play into a victory when they visit the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.