With the calendar flipping over and the halfway mark of the NHL season fast approaching, now is about the time when contenders for year-end awards start to enter the purview.
And voters should start paying close attention to Oilers star Leon Draisaitl.
The hulking centre iceman scored his league-leading 28th goal Friday night in tremendous fashion, tickling twine in tight as he corraled a bouncing puck, burying it top shelf with just over a minute and a half left in the game. It helped the Oilers secure a 3-2 win over the visiting Anaheim Ducks, but that wasn’t all that was notable about the goal.
It extended his goals lead to five over second place, which sees Kirill Kaprizov, Mark Scheifele, William Nylander, and Brayden Point. The goal was also his 21st even-strength goal, another lead-leading mark, and his ninth game-winning goal, which leads all NHL’ers by three.
“I take big pride in stepping up when it’s needed most and it’s always something that is really important to me,” Draisaitl said after the win. Some years it seems to go your way in certain moments, and other years it doesn’t. That’s just the way this league works, but obviously, I’ll take it.”
The Oilers would take a 1-0 lead with just under three minutes left in the first period, when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins broke through on the power play. Darnell Nurse extended the Oilers lead eight minutes into the second, but then the Ducks began to push. Brett Leason would capitalize on a turnover, and a long shot from the point by Jackson LaCombe would give the Ducks a power play goal.
Edmonton began to crack, and even though he came up in the clutch for the Oilers late in the game, Draisaitl’s game was far from perfect. While no turnovers show up on the NHL stats sheet, he was critical of his play for most of the game.
“I think we had a lot of good shifts, a lot of good looks,” said Draisaitl. “Their goalie made some big stops, but I think all-in-all, especially on my behalf and our line, just too many turnovers. It felt like the momentum, we would have it then (a) turnover would happen, and it would just be back and forth. That’s mainly our line tonight, mainly me.”
And that accountability is what’s allowed Draisaitl to take his game to another level this season.
“Leon’s very aware of his game,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “He takes accountability and doesn’t deflect blame. I think that’s part of the reason why he’s become such a great player, because he’s able to accept that responsibility of when he doesn’t play well. But there are nights where things aren’t going well for him, but he still finds a way to make a big play, and he did.
“Being clutch, that’s quite an understatement, just because of how many things he’s done this year. In the third period, he had a couple really good scoring chances. There was a high-tip where their goalie made a great save, then the last one to catch that puck bouncing around and release it as quick as he does and put it where he does, that’s an elite play.”
Leon will look to continue his goal-scoring ways tonight as the Oilers head to Seattle for a game against the Kraken.
