Different event, same old Leon Draisaitl. The Edmonton Oilers star made his presence felt right away for Germany at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games on Thursday, as he scored early against Denmark.
Very early.
The former Hart Memorial Trophy winner needed just 23 seconds to find the back of the net in his Olympic debut, as he put one in off the assists from teammates Frederik Tiffels and Fabio Wagner.
Leon Draisaitl nets his first goal of the Olympics just 23 seconds into the game!! 🚨
📺: Germany vs. Denmark in the #MilanoCortina2026 #WinterOlympics LIVE on @peacock, @cbcgem, & @TSN_Sports! pic.twitter.com/ICS0vZTZDw
— NHL (@NHL) February 12, 2026
Going into the Olympics, everyone knew that Leon Draisaitl was going to be the man for Team Germany, and he made it immediately clear with his goal. The 30-year-old Draisaitl was also having a solid 2025-26 NHL season before going into the Olympic break, having scored 20 goals and recorded 51 assists for a total of 80 points through 55 games with the Oilers in the campaign.
But Germany is also not all about Leon Draisaitl, as it also features other great talents. In fact, Tim Stutzle has scored the next two goals for the team. Draisaitl also assisted in Stutzle's second goal in the contest during a power play 10 minutes into the second period.
With Draisaitl and Stutzle both scoring against Denmark, they managed to pull off a feat not seen in nearly 16 years. Stutzle plays for the Ottawa Senators in the NHL.
“Tim Stützle and Leon Draisaitl became the second pair of German players representing NHL teams to score in the same game at the #WinterOlympics after Marcel Goc (NSH) and Dennis Seidenberg (FLA) on Feb. 20, 2010,” the official X (formerly Twitter) acount of NHL Public Relations shared.
Germany plays in Group C along witth the United States, Latvia and Denmark.
