At first glance you’d think the numbers represent a hockey player dominating his U13 or U11 peers, not someone dominating a team of NHL players.

Leon Draisaitl has 23 goals and 37 points in his last 14 games vs. the Nashville Predators. That isn’t a typo. Draisaitl’s dominating streak over the Predators began on October 27th, 2018, in his 13th career game against them.

It wasn’t expected.

Draisaitl’s first 12 games against the Predators were anything but memorable. He produced two goals and five points in 12 games. But then something changed, and Draisaitl has owned the Predators for the past six seasons.

Draisaitl has 11 multi-point games in his last 14 games.

He’s had three games with two points.

He has tallied three points four times.

He has one four-point game.

He has scored five points in three games.

He’s had at least two goals in nine of the 14 games. He has eight goals at even strength, 14 on the power play and one shorthanded.

What’s even more impressive is that Draisaitl has feasted on the Predators in their home rink. In his seven road games he’s scored 15 goals and 21 points. He is averaging 3.00 pts/game and in one of those games he didn’t register a point. My son had his first three-point game in Tier three U13 last night. Draisaitl is doing that every night for six years in Nashville. It is crazy.

Only two other players, in the last 100 years, have scored 23 goals in 14 consecutive games v. an opponent.

Wayne Gretzky had 26-21-47 v. St. Louis from February 18th, 1981, to October 13th, 1985. He also scored 24-17-41 v. Toronto in 1981-1986.

Mike Bossy produced 23-17-40 v. Chicago between November 08th, 1981 and October 13th, 1984.

Newsy Lalonde and Joe Malone did it between 1918-1922.

Draisaitl’s dominating run versus Nashville is damn impressive. It is extremely rare, and if Draisaitl manages to score two goals tonight he’d join Gretzky in the even rarer 25-goals-in-15-games-versus-one-team club.

— Not surprisingly, the Oilers have had great results as a team during Draisaitl’s streak going 11-1-2 and outscoring the Predators 61-34. They are 5-0-2 in Nashville, have outscored them 34-16 and are 47.8% on the power play. They have 11 goals on 23 PP chances.

— Connor McDavid is riding a 13-game point streak against Nashville and has scored eight goals and 33 points during his streak. If I’m Kris Knoblauch I’m keeping Draisaitl and McDavid on the same line for at least one more game. Ride the wave as long as you can.

— The Oilers’ first unit power play has to start shooting the puck. They are 1-for-9 on the PP and the first unit has eight shots on goal (Draisaitl has four) in over 14 minutes of PP time. Hyman doesn’t have a shot on goal yet. He had the second-most PP shots (64) last year for the Oilers. He isn’t the main shooting option, Draisaitl is and should be, but the Oilers need to get Hyman more involved on the man advantage.

— The Predators’ PP is also struggling going 1-for-11; however, it isn’t from a lack of shots. Their first unit of Steven Stamkos, Filip Forsberg, Jonathon Marchessault, Ryan O’Reilly and Roman Jose has also over 14 minutes of PP time, and they have 21 shots. But only one goal. Their second unit has nine shots in 5:40 of PP time. The Predators lead the NHL with a whopping 84.77 shots/60 rate right now. Edmonton has led the NHL with 65 shots/60 over the past three seasons. They fired 1242 shots in 1145 minutes of PP time. The Preds have 30 shots in 21 minutes of PP time this year. They are firing from everywhere.

— Nashville is 16-16 on PP faceoffs. The Oilers have been great on PK faceoffs going 19-10. However, the faceoff success hasn’t really helped them as the Oilers’ PK is an ugly 56.3%. Edmonton has allowed a league-high seven PP goals thus far. Taking fewer penalties would be a good start. They’ve been shorthanded 16 times in four games. Nashville has only been on the PK eight times and has only allowed one goal.

— The Predators have really struggled 5×5. They’ve been outscored 11-3 and enter tonight with the worst 5×5 GF% at 21.33. Edmonton isn’t much better sitting 29th at 33.33% (5GF-10GA). Their top two lines have yet to score 5×5.  Tomas Novak has two goals while Michael McCarron has the other. It is only a matter of time before the Preds’ best players start scoring, similar to the Oilers’ first three games.

— Steven Stamkos has no points in his first three games. He’s played every game with Jonathan Marchessault, but they’ve had a different linemate each game. Their first game was with Tommy Novak, then he started game two, before Colton Sissons played the final two periods with them. In game three it was Craig Smith for the majority of the game, while Filip Forsberg took a few shifts with them. They’ve had chances, but no finish thus far. The Preds have outshot opponents 20-10 with Stamkos and Marchessault on the ice.

Draisaitl – McDavid – Hyman
J. Skinner – Henrique – Brown
Podkolzin – RNH – Arvidsson
Janmark – Ryan – Perry

Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Stecher
Kulak – Emberson

Pickard

Keeping McDavid and Draisaitl together, when they’ve terrorized the Predators recently, makes sense. Especially when you consider they didn’t do much until setting up Evan Bouchard for the tying goal and then scoring the OT winner last game. The first 55 minutes against Philly weren’t great. It would be good for both of them to have a complete game.

The Henrique line was the Oilers’ best line v. Philadelphia and he and Connor Brown have been the most consistent forwards through four games. Jeff Skinner has been excellent his past two games and in their first game together they produced two goals. Why would you break them up for tonight? It is only four games, but Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Viktor Arvidsson need to get involved offensively. Both have been quiet. Arvidsson has had some looks, but he’s missed the net on pretty much all of his best chances.

I’m assuming the Oilers decided to go with Pickard tonight so Stuart Skinner starts in Dallas. They didn’t want Skinner starting five of first six games and opted for Pickard tonight. He is looking for a bounce-back effort from his first appearance v. Chicago. “It’s a good chance to bounce back for me personally,” said Pickard. “Not the start I wanted against Chicago, but you have to have a short-term memory in this league. The Philly game was a big step for us. Things weren’t going our way; we were down 2-0 early in the game and we just clawed our way back and didn’t try to get it back it all at once. We had some physical plays; a couple fights to get us going emotionally and got the win. I’m looking to build on that tonight.”

Forsberg – O’Reilly – Nyquist
Stamkos – Novak – Evangelista
Jankowski – Sissons – Marchessault
Smith – McCarron – Tomasino

Josi – Fabbro
Skjei – Schenn
Lauzon – Carrier

Saros

Prior to the season starting, Predators head coach Andrew Brunette believed it would take some time for his top lines to gel. Through three games he’s been bang on, but I doubt he wants it to take much longer to find some offensive chemistry and production. The Predators outshot Dallas in their season-opener 36-20 but lost 4-3. Then they went into Detroit and outshot the Red Wings 42-20 but lost 3-0 with Dylan Larkin scoring an empty netter. They played well both games and lost. They hosted Seattle on Tuesday and the game was 3-3 heading into the third period, but Seattle scored three goals in 11:57 and won 7-3.

Nashville hasn’t played that poorly overall, but they’ve struggled to finish. The Oilers have only scored first once, v. Calgary, while the Predators have allowed the first goal in all three of their losses.

They have changed their lines again as Stamkos will now play with Novak and Evangelista.

GAME DAY PREDICTION: Edmonton adds to the Predators’ early-season struggles handing them their fourth consecutive loss. Oilers win 4-2.

OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: The Oilers score a power play goal.

NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Connor Brown scores his second goal of the season, making these his first consecutive games with a goal since March 12th and 14th, 2022.