Draisaitl ‘at another level’ as Oilers prove they can hang with top teams
You can only lose to the same uniform for so long, and Leon Draisaitl and his Edmonton Oilers had clearly had enough.
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You can only lose to the same uniform for so long, and Leon Draisaitl and his Edmonton Oilers had clearly had enough.
Draisaitl was a tour de force Thursday night in Minnesota, dominating the Wild with a goal and three assists in a 7-1 shellacking in the State of Hockey.
“It obviously hasn’t been the friendliest place for us, but we’ve been playing some pretty good hockey lately,” said Zach Hyman, who was credited with his seventh goal of the season when Draisaitl wired a power play one-timer off of Hyman’s stick and into the Wild goal. “That was probably one of our most complete games, through 60 minutes, against the team that had the best record in the league (heading into the game) — and a really good defensive team.”
The Oilers dominated on special teams, with two power-play goals and a shorty by Connor Brown. Defensively, they allowed just one Minnesota power-play goal and were perfect at even strength.
On a stretch against top teams, the Oilers have reeled off games against Vegas, Tampa Bay and now Minnesota in which they allowed just a single goal. Calvin Pickard went the distance stopping 28 pucks, beaten only on a deflection.
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“We were very motivated to play a good hockey team,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch, who marvelled at Draisaitl’s game. “I can’t say anybody had an off game, but Leon was at another level.
“Leon, the last week or so, has really been on top of his game.”
It was the fourth straight multi-point game for Draisaitl, and he now leads the NHL with 21 goals. Draisaitl was an absolute horse, holding the puck for extended periods of time, setting up teammates for two power-play goals.
“He’s been playing unbelievable at both ends of the ice,” Hyman said. “He doesn’t always get enough credit for what he’s doing on the other (defensive) end. He’s scoring lots of goals, making lots of plays. But defensively, he’s been unbelievable.”
The Wild were without injured centre Joel Eriksson Ek and defenceman Jonas Brodin — then they lost defenceman Jake Middleton after just one shift when he blocked a shot and did not return. Edmonton smelled blood, and dominated the opening seven minutes of the game, holding a 2-0 lead by the 15:40 mark.
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It’s Edmonton’s first four-game winning streak of the season, and the Oilers have now won seven of their past eight games. It was Edmonton’s second seven-goal outburst this season, the other one coming at Vancouver in a 7-3 rout.
Heading into the game, the Wild had won 11 of the last 13 against Edmonton, a streak that dates back to the 2019-20 season. They had outscored the Oilers 51-23 at even strength during that streak, and the Oilers had not won a game in St. Paul since February of 2019. Cam Talbot earned the win in net that night, with Ty Rattie scoring the game-winning goal.
With Him Win or Ty
Ty Emberson earned a huge dose of respect when he engaged Jakub Lauko in a vigorous scrap, with both players landing all kinds of punches. He returned to the bench with stuffing in both nostrils, but played a tidy 15:58 with a shorthanded assist on a plus-1 night.
“He got some in, I think I got some in… It was a good fight,” said the 24-year-old.
Before the linesman dropped the puck for a faceoff in the Oilers zone, Lauko skated within earshot of Emberson and invited him to dance. Emberson obliged seconds after the rubber hit the ice, and in his second scrap this season, the Wisconsin-born D-man showed a side of his game that many did not know was there.
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“It was just a faceoff, he asked if I wanted to go, and I said, ‘Sure.’ It was just making sure the energy was there in the building, and making sure we were going to keep it up,” he said.
This was only NHL game No. 57 for Emberson, who came from San Jose in the Cody Ceci trade. If his play trends upwards, by the 200-game mark the Oilers will have a steady young third-pairing defenceman — at worst.
For a team that has dealt away so many picks and prospects, this could be a brilliant return in a salary dump trade, if it turns out that Emberson plays more than just a couple of seasons here.
Where is his game these days?
“I think it’s in a good spot right now,” he said. “As the season has gone on I’ve built some confidence up in finding ways to contribute, whether it’s on the PK or just playing hard five-on-five. I’m just trying to keep building on that.”
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He grew up a 90-minute drive away in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and had a whack of friends and family at the game to watch his scrap.
“This is the rink I grew up coming to when I was a little kid,” he said. “So it’s fun to be able to play a game in it and have all my family here to watch.”
OIL SPILLS — Evan Bouchard limped off the ice after a hit from Ryan Hartman late in the game. He did not return, and Knoblauch did not have a prognosis … Darnell Nurse notched the 200th assist of his career, in NHL game No. 666 … The Oilers notched their third multi-power-play goal game of the season, all of which have come in their last seven games.
