NEW YORK -- A pair of goals in the first six minutes of the first period by the New York Islanders on Saturday night had the Edmonton Oilers fearing a repeat of their last experience at Barclays Center.

But as the next 59 minutes proved, the Oilers and Islanders of November are far different than the Oilers and Islanders of February.

Mark Letestu scored the only goal in the shootout as the Oilers completed their comeback from a two-goal deficit to edge the Islanders, 4-3, and snap a three-game losing streak.

"Character win for our group," Oilers head coach Todd McLellan said. "Wasn't pretty, but we found a way."

The Oilers worried they were headed toward an ugly loss when Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy scored just 13 seconds after faceoff and Shane Prince doubled the lead at the 5:49 mark. Edmonton gave up three goals in the first period the last time it visited Barclays Center on Feb. 7, when it suffered its most lopsided defeat of the season in an 8-1 loss.

"I had flashbacks to last year's debacle here -- 13 seconds in wasn't part of the plan," McLellan said. "And the next three or four minutes after that, they had us on our heels."

But the Oilers (8-3-1), who are in first place in the Pacific Division after missing the playoffs the last 10 seasons, withstood the surge they expected to face from a reeling Islanders squad that held a team meeting prior to practice Friday.

The Islanders (4-6-2) have made the playoffs three of the last four seasons and reached the conference quarterfinals last spring for the first time since 1993. But New York has lost five of six (1-3-2) and has the second-fewest points in the Eastern Conference following Saturday's loss.

"Read the quotes in the paper coming into this game," Letestu said. "Today was a big game for them. They thought it was one of the biggest ones of the year. They probably willed their game on us early."

The Oilers didn't need much time to regain the momentum. Patrick Maroon scored at the 8:22 mark and Leon Draisaitl tied the game less than four minutes later.

"The start, especially last year in this building, was kind of a similar script," Letestu said. "I think it shows the difference in the two groups, the way we forced our way back."

Scoring dried up thereafter as the injuries began piling up for both the Oilers and Islanders. Edmonton right wingers Zack Kassian (lower body) and Jesse Puljujarvi (charley horse) didn't play after the first period, nor did New York defenseman Travis Hamonic (upper body).

The Islanders took the lead with 8:42 left in the second period on a rebound goal by Casey Cizikas, but the Oilers tied it again on a power play score by Milan Lucic with 3:19 to go in the second.

The Islanders outshot the Oilers 15-12 during a scoreless third period and overtime before Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot (30 saves) turned back all three New York shots in the shootout. Letestu then faked Islanders goaltender Jaroslav Halak and buried the puck in the upper right corner of the net.

"To stick with it, short bench, like we did, basically rolling three lines and mixing a guy in -- to get it to overtime, to give us a chance to get that second point was a gusty effort," Letestu said.

Halak made 20 saves for the Islanders, who lost despite finishing the game with a plus/minus rating of plus-10.

"It's amazing right now, we didn't have a minus player on our team," Islanders head coach Jack Capuano said. "For whatever reason right now, puck luck is not going our way."

New York has been tied or ahead in the third period in six of its eight losses.

"At the end of the day, we competed," Capuano said. "We played a little resilient and we played hard and credit to the guys. But that's the way we're going to have to play. I think our guys know if we continue to play like that and work like that and just stay the course, good things will happen."

NOTES: The Oilers beat the Islanders on the road for the first time since Dec. 14, 1999. Edmonton was 0-8-1 in its previous nine games at Barclays Center and Nassau Coliseum. ... The Islanders scratched C Mathew Barzal, G Jean-Francois Berube and C Alan Quine. ... New York rookie LW Anthony Beauvillier was active and played in his 10th game, which means he will be credited with a full year of contract service. ... The Oilers scratched D Kris Russell (lower body) as well as D Dillon Simpson and LW Anton Slepyshev. ... Oilers G Cam Talbot is the only goalie to start all his team's games this season. Columbus Blue Jackets G Sergei Bobrovsky started the first nine games before sitting in favor of G Curtis McElhinney against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night.