The Edmonton Oilers grabbed their first win of the season with a 6-1 rout of the Nashville Predators Tuesday night.
The Oilers are 10-0-2 in their last 12 games against the Predators.
Leon Draisaitl became the Oilers’ all-time leader in power-play goals when he slammed home a pass from Zach Hyman eight minutes into the game. It was Draisaitl’s 127th career power-play goal, moving him ahead of Ryan Smyth and Glenn Anderson.
The Oilers took over from there. Hyman tapped in his first of the season. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins fired in a cross-crease feed from Warren Foegele. Then, Connor McDavid, despite losing his balance and spinning on his knees, found a loose puck and beat Juuse Saros on a partial breakaway. Saros was pulled after the first period, having allowed four goals on 11 shots.
“(Draisaitl) is the modern version of the power forward. He’s versatile, can play either wing, plays in the middle, his power-play performance is quite special,” Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said after the game.
Tommy Novak put the Preds on the board with a power-play goal early in the second. However, Draisaitl struck again with the man advantage to make it 5-1 Edmonton. Foegele potted his first later in the session.
“We got better from Game 1 to Game 2 … got better from Game 2 to Game 3. We have some individuals at different stages; guys miss training camp, come back from injuries. So I don’t think we’re yet hitting on every cylinder,” Woodcroft said.
Jack Campbell had a strong night in net, making 42 saves.
“Opening night was obviously not fun for anybody. But I learned a lot from last year and looked at the game and there was a couple of little tweaks, thought it paid off where I just got a little more aggressive,” Campbell said.
“I don’t think it was a 6-1 game without (Campbell) — he played great,” Hyman said of his goaltender.
Draisaitl and Hyman both finished with four points.
The Oilers (1-2) visit Philadelphia on Thursday. You can listen to the game live on 630 CHED, beginning with The Faceoff Show at 4 p.m. The actual game starts at 5:30 p.m.
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