On Thursday, the Edmonton Oilers play their first road game of the season, taking a trip to Nashville to face the Predators.
It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for another Throwback Thursday. In honour of the game against the Predators, we’ll look at what was arguably Leon Draisaitl’s best game of his career.
On March 2, 2020, the Oilers were on the verge of making the postseason for the first time in three seasons. For the first time in his career, Draisaitl had legitimate top-six linemates (not named Connor McDavid) in Kailer Yamamoto and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Forming towards the beginning of 2020, the three forwards quickly developed chemistry and took the league by storm.
In fact, the scoring the line provided helped overcome a six-game absence without Connor McDavid, who suffered a quad injury early in February. During that span, Draisaitl picked up four goals and 12 points in six games.
McDavid returned and it looked like the Oilers were going to punch their ticket into the postseason, perhaps even against the Calgary Flames.
Anyway, coming into this Monday evening game, Draisaitl led the league with 39 goals and 102 points in 65 games. In the first period, he scored to make it 2-0 with his 40th of the season, assisted by McDavid and Ethan Bear. He added an assist in the second period to make it 3-2 for the Oilers on Kailer Yamamoto’s 10th goal of the season.
However, it was the third period where Draisaitl shined. The Oilers once again took a lead, this time 4-3, thanks to McDavid’s 32nd goal of the season, shortly followed by Draisaitl’s second of the game. Zack Kassian added a goal (his 15th of the season) before Draisaitl scored twice more towards the middle of the third period.
Thanks to four goals from Draisaitl, the Oilers were able to defeat the Predators 8-3, bringing their season record to 35-23-8 and moving them to within two points of the Vegas Golden Knights for the top spot in the Pacific Division.
These four goals were the last Draisaitl would score in the remaining five games of the season. The German picked up three assists over his next two games but was held pointless in the remaining three games.
Still, Draisaitl finished the 2019-20 season with a league-leading 110 points, while finishing fourth in league scoring with 43 goals. To date, it’s the only season where Draisaitl has picked up awards, winning the Art Ross Trophy, Hart Memorial Trophy, and the Ted Lindsay Award.
As you know, the world went to crap due to a virus a few weeks later, with the league suspending play on March 12, six days before I was supposed to see the Oilers in Ottawa. Anyway, the Oilers made the “play-in” series, falling in four games to the Chicago Blackhawks and technically missing the postseason.
The 2019-20 season was a weird one, but this game capped off one of, if not, Leon Draisaitl’s best games as an Edmonton Oiler.
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