Leon Draisaitl has had a disappointing start to the NHL playoffs with the Edmonton Oilers despite a brace. The Canadians lost a two-goal lead on Monday (local time) in the 3: 4 after overtime against the Los Angeles Kings in the final third.
Draisaitl scored the opening goal (7th) and the interim 3:1 (49th) and built on his strong condition of the regular season. Evan Bouchard (13th) was also successful for the Oilers.
That didn’t help, however, because Alex Iafallo (70th) made the decision in favor of the guests in overtime. The Californians had initially reduced the deficit twice in the final third thanks to Adrian Kempe (41st/52nd) before Anze Kopitar equalized 17 seconds before the final siren.
“It’s frustrating. It has to be more mature than that,” said Draisaitl afterwards, his team had to play “smarter” and learn from the negative: “It’s a 3-1 game, there are still eight minutes to go. We have to do that bring to an end.” The second game in the best-of-seven series will take place again in Canada on Thursday night (4:00 a.m. CEST/Sky).
The 27-year-old Draisaitl set a personal best in the main round with 128 points. His first goal against Los Angeles broke the 60-point mark in the playoffs, only two players in NHL history needing fewer games than Draisaitl (38): Wayne Gretzky (26) and Mario Lemieux (34) .
With the best main round since the glory days of club legend Gretzky, Draisaitl and Co. raised the expectations of the fans. Last year, the Oilers lost to eventual champions Colorado Avalanche in the semifinals.
The Boston Bruins, who had set several records as the best team in the main round, successfully started the hot phase of the season with a 3-1 win against the Florida Panthers. In addition, the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Islanders 2-1, while Minnesota Wild won 3-2 at the Dallas Stars after overtime.
2023-04-18 07:43:47
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