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Although the Edmonton Oilers were unable to slow down the league-leading Washington Capitals on home ice on Tuesday night, it wasn't due to trying on Leon Draisaitl's part. The German superstar scored the game's opening goal and added an assist in the 3-2 defeat, increasing his point streak to seven games (five goals, seven assists).
His NHL-leading 34th goal of the 2024-25 campaign also happened to be his 25th career tally in the first five minutes of a game, adding his name to some elite company.
“Leon Draisaitl scored his 29th career goal in the opening 5:00 of a game to pass Connor McDavid (28) and tie Wayne Gretzky for second place on the franchise's all-time list, which is topped by Mark Messier (30),” wrote NHL Public Relations.
Draisaitl was the third player to reach the 70-point mark this season, and he's just three points back of Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon for the league lead. The sniper put the Oilers ahead just over three minutes into the opening frame; Draisaitl won an offensive zone draw before taking a pass from Darnell Nurse and backhanding the puck up and over goaltender Logan Thompson's pad.
It was a great start for Edmonton, but Washington pushed back almost immediately after. Tom Wilson tied the game six minutes later, and Matt Roy's tally halfway through the second period gave the Capitals the lead.
Pierre-Luc Dubois would make it 3-1 early in the third, and although Corey Perry scored to get one back, that's as close as the Oil would get on Tuesday night.
Oilers can't halt Capitals winning streak
The Capitals have now won five games in a row, improving to 32-10-5 and sitting a full five points up on the second-place Winnipeg Jets in the President's Trophy race. For Edmonton, it's 29-15-3 after two losses in a row on a heels of a four-game winning streak.
“I think that’s one of our better games that we’ve played defensively,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said afterwards, per NHL.com's Gerry Moddejonge. “I don’t think we gave up very much, a couple off the rush, yes. We’re never going to play a perfect game, the other team is going to get scoring chances but I don’t think there were very many tonight.”
It was Edmonton's first game without McDavid, who is serving a three-game suspension for a cross check he delivered to the face of Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland in the waning seconds of a 3-2 loss on Saturday night.
“We're a pretty good team in here, we have a lot of good players,” Perry said, per Moddejonge. “He’s been out earlier in the year and we took care of business. You can’t fill his spot but you can adapt, and I think guys have done that.”
Before the losing streak, the Oilers had been on a tear, winning 11 of 14 games between December 19-January 16. Tuesday's tilt against the Capitals is the first of a six-game homestand.
Knoblauch's group will welcome the Canucks, Buffalo Sabres, Seattle Kraken, Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs to Rogers Place between now and the first day of February.
