Leon Draisaitl had three assists as the Edmonton Oilers sunk the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 Saturday night at Rogers Place.
The Oilers have won four in a row and improve to 17-17-2 on the season. However, leading scorer Connor McDavid didn’t finish the game after blocking a shot.
“The doctors X-rayed him and it came back negative,” said Oilers head coach Todd McLellan. “His foot’s a little sore obviously from blocking it, but he’s in good spirits. The three days off will help him and I fully expect him to play in Winnipeg.”
The Oilers took control with two goals 2:01 apart in the latter half of the first period. Ryan Strome finished off a pretty passing play from Jujhar Khaira and Leon Draisaitl for his seventh of the season.
“We’ve had so many chances and I think the last couple of games we are starting to execute them,” said Strome on his lines play. “It’s a lot of fun being on the ice right now every night and were steering the ship in the right direction.”
“I think we complement each other well,” Draisaitl added. “We all bring different things to the table and it’s been a lot of fun playing with those two.”
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McDavid made it 2-0 when his long-wrister eluded a screened Antti Niemi.
Early in the the second, McDavid and Draisaitl combined to set up Milan Lucic for a power play goal. The Canadiens replied with a man advantage marker of their own with Andrew Shaw getting credit. The Oilers unsuccessfully challenged for goalie interference.
Niemi held the Habs in the game in the third. He stopped Draisaitl in tight, then denied Patrick Maroon on a breakaway.
With 2:30 left, McDavid blocked Jeff Petry’s slap shot off the inside of his right foot. McDavid hobbled off the ice and didn’t return to the game. Jujhar Khaira sealed the win with an empty net goal.
“Its nice to see the guys get rewarded for some of the work they’ve put in the last month,” said McLellan on his team getting back to the .500 mark. “When it wasn’t looking so good, and I’m referring more to in Toronto and at home to Nashville, they could have let it get away from them and they didn’t do that, they stuck with it.”
“I think we’ve been playing some really good hockey lately,” Draisaitl said. “I think we are getting back to the hockey we were playing last season. We have all four lines going right now and it’s nice to take that into the break.”
Kris Russell had an assist for his 14th point of the season, topping his total from all of 2016/17.
Cam Tlabot made 29 saves for his seventh straight win, setting a new career high for a personal winning streak.
The Oilers next game is in Winnipeg on Wednesday.
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