EDMONTON — It was the first of November, but for Leon Draisaitl, every time the Nashville Predators come to town it’s like a night at Oktoberfest.
Come for the 35-foot backhand pass right on Evander Kane’s tape, stay for the five-point night that ensues, as the Cologne Kid lit up the Predators for the umpteenth time in a 7-4 win for the Edmonton Oilers.
“I seem to get lucky against these guys quite a bit,” said Draisaitl, who entered the game with 17 goals and three assists for 20 points in his last eight games against Nashville.
He left with 18 goals, seven assists and 25 points in his last nine games against Nashville, and his head coach Jay Woodcroft was asked what it is Draisaitl has on this Predators team.
“I don't have an answer for you,” he said. “I can’t explain it.”
That’s OK, Woody. Neither can the Preds.
Connor McDavid contributed two goals and two assists, as Nashville goalie Juuse Saros was under siege.
“They’re the best in the sport,” Saros said of Draisaitl and McDavid. “Everybody knows that.”
Draisaitl had the primary assists on all three of Evander Kane’s goals, and with the Preds’ net empty late in the game, he found himself holding the puck, with both two-goal men — Kane and McDavid — on the ice with him.
Who to award the hat trick goal to … ?
“Connor has enough,” said Draisaitl, who saw Kane bolting for the net while McDavid peeled off away from the play. “(McDavid) scores I don’t know how many hat tricks in a season, so I was going to give that one to my liney.”
How about Kane, who ripped up the National Hockey League playoffs last season with a league-leading 13 goals while playing left wing for McDavid? This season he finds himself flanking Draisaitl — the NHL assists leader — and Kane has five goals (11 points) in his first 10 games.
How does it feel being a trigger man on the team with the NHL’s top two centres?
“That’s why I’m here,” Kane said, smiling.
After a 2-3 start the Oilers now have five wins in a row, the NHL’s top goal scorer, top assists man and leading scorer. And they are playing a game that’s not only sustainable, there is plenty of room for improvement.
While folks in Toronto and Vancouver are chewing their nails to the quick, these are good times in Oil Country. Edmonton closed its first 10-game segment at 7-3 and chasing only the 9-2 Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference.
“The first couple games, maybe that wasn’t the start we wanted or expected,” Draisaitl said. “But we are finding our game and our legs a little bit. I think we are a lot to handle for other teams when we skate and play our game, and when we stick within our structure. It is coming along.”
Meanwhile, the two players who lead the NHL in scoring over the past six seasons have bolted out of the gate in Year 7.
McDavid looks very much like a guy whose heart is set on winning a Rocket Richard Trophy, with 11 goals (22 points) in 10 games. And Draisaitl is just one point behind with 5-16-21.
But the best part is what Draisaitl says when asked about their hot start:
“That is what we are paid to do, to produce offensively,” he began. “With that being said, we are here to win a championship and look at the big picture. Him and I, we have had our awards and it is nice and we are proud of (them).
“But we want the big prize. It is a good start for us as a group, which is way more important.”
This Oilers team is simply too much to handle for a struggling club like Nashville, losers of seven of its past eight games. On a night where Nashville scored in the game’s opening minute, the Preds looked up after 20 minutes to see a 4-1 deficit.
Edmonton toyed with them from there, watching a 5-1 waffle into a 7-4 finish, on the strength of a couple of tidy power-play goals and a dandy Filip Forsberg snipe.
The Oilers penalty kill went zero-for-two, the one spot where this team is having its struggles.
“One was a six-on-four, but there was a few things that we can do better on both of those goals,” allowed Woodcroft. “The team is 7-3 … but we’ve got areas where we can be better. That’s certainly one of them.”
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