EDMONTON, Alberta -- The New York Islanders continued their hard playoff charge under interim coach Doug Weight on Tuesday night, beating the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 at Rogers Place Arena.

The Islanders never trailed in the game, leading 1-0 after 20 minutes and 2-1 after 40. They pulled away in the third period to improve to 14-6-3 since Weight took over.

Anders Lee scored twice and Josh Ho-Sang and Andrew Ladd added goals for the Islanders, who wasted no time taking back the last Eastern Conference wild-card spot after the Toronto Maple Leafs leaped ahead of them earlier in the day.

"We were fast, we were really good in the neutral zone, bottling up the area and moving our feet, and we had some really good O-zone time," said Weight, who liked how his club responded in its first visit to Edmonton's new arena. "They're a dangerous team, Tommy (Greiss, the Oilers goalie) was really good between the pipes, he made some really good saves at 1-0 at 2-1.

"The crowd was waiting to get into it, and if one of those goes in, you could tell it was going to be a tough building to play in."

It was an important stretch-drive game for both teams, with Edmonton now tied with Anaheim in the Pacific standings with 78 points apiece after beginning the day up two points.

So no wonder Oilers coach Todd McLellan was steaming after the loss. He did not like his team's execution, nor its effort level.

"They got a power-play goal, and we didn't," he said. "They chose to block a lot of shots in power-play situations, and we didn't. They scored a blue-paint, playoff-type goal; we didn't.

"We had numerous opportunities with open nets and didn't bear down. We had numerous odd-man rushes where we got too cute, and it led to a number of turnovers.

"They did a lot of things they needed to do to get a 4-1 win. We didn't."

It started early, with New York taking the lead on a power-play goal from Ho-Sang at 17:23. It was the rookie center's first NHL goal.

"It's really nice, there are no words to describe it," said Ho-Sang, who appeared in his fourth game. "It's such a relief to score, and it makes you feel like you belong and things are possible and you know all your dreams are coming true in front of your eyes, which is cool.

"For me, it was a very special moment."

The Islanders maintained the one-goal lead after 40 minutes when winger Zack Kassian scored for the Oilers on a deflection at 2:58 of the second period and Lee replied with his 24th goal of the season at 9:45.

"We were really good tonight," Lee said. "They're still going to get a lot of opportunities, but I think we limited them as much as possible and played a tight-knit game, and you have to do that as much as possible in a building like this with their team."

The Islanders, who are 23-0-5 when leading after two periods, expanded the margin to 3-1 at 7:04 of the third period when Ladd scored moments after an unsuccessful Oilers power play.

Lee added the dagger into an empty net.

"I think some mental mistakes are what cost us today," Oilers winger Milan Lucic said. "You have to be sharp at this time of year. When we get our chances, we have to bear down on them. That was the difference tonight. They bore down on their chances and we didn't.

"We weren't able to get that second goal to get our game going, and I guess the frustration built up more and more as a team. It sucks to lose, but it's something you need to turn the page on, learn from because it only gets tougher from here."

Edmonton center Ryan-Nugent Hopkins added, "We have to find ways to win games. We did it on the last road trip, maybe not playing our best but still finding ways to win games. Tonight wasn't a good enough job of finding those goals when we really needed them. But we can't get frustrated, frustration is going to get us nowhere."

Greiss finished with 27 saves, while Oilers goalie Cam Talbot stopped 23 shots.

NOTES: Oilers D Darnell Nurse played his 100th NHL game. ... Oilers LW Benoit Pouliot, who has been out three weeks with an undisclosed injury, is skating again and has been cleared for contact. He will be ready to play within a few days. ... Islanders interim coach Doug Weight spent almost nine seasons with the Oilers and is seventh on their career scoring list with 577 points in 588 games. ... Oilers D Kris Russell missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury. ... Islanders D Johnny Boychuk remains day-to-day with a foot injury. ... New York LW Jason Chimera, selected in the fifth round by the Oilers in 1997, played his 1,016th NHL game. The other nine players selected by Edmonton in 1997 combined for 19 NHL games.