(Edmonton) Leon Draisaitl scored two goals and added one assist to take the lead in scoring, one point ahead of teammate Connor McDavid, in a 5-2 Edmonton Oilers victory over the Edmonton Predators. Nashville.
Kailer Yamamoto, Devin Shore and Jesse Puljujarvi, the latter in an empty net, scored the other goals of the Oilers (8-1-0) who signed a third straight victory.
In front of the winners’ net, goalkeeper Mikko Koskinen blocked 31 of 33 shots aimed at him.
Consult the summary of the meeting
The Oilers have won eight of their first nine games for the second time in their history. They achieved the feat for the first time in the 1985-86 season.
Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen replied for the Predators (5-5-0), who ended a four-game winning streak.
Conor Ingram made 24 saves on 29 shots in front of the Predators’ net.
The Oilers opened the scoring in the seventh minute of play in the first period with their powerful massive offense. Draisaitl completed a superb rally between McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and himself by sending the puck on reception to the top corner of the net.
Before the start of the game, the Oilers’ power play was showing a spectacular 46.2% save rate.
The lead was short lived, however, as the Predators struck 11 seconds later. In a two-on-one descent, Duchene chose to shoot and beat Koskinen.
At the start of the second period, the Oilers regained the lead at 1:27 when a long comeback appeared on the blade of Yamamoto’s stick, who took the opportunity to score his second goal in as many games. had only one in his last 36 regular season games.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins got a 13e assists on goal, which gives him the first place in this chapter in the National Hockey League.
Then, in the third, the Oilers made it 3-1 in the fourth minute of play when McDavid gave the puck to his accomplice Draisaitl to allow him to put on his ninth of the season.
The locals added to their lead just over a minute later on Shore’s goal which took advantage of a turnaround. The Predators narrowed the gap with four minutes to go on a power play, but Puljujarvi closed the books by scoring in an empty net.