ice Hockey
Oilers and Draisaitl busted out of NHL playoffs
The Oilers around Connor McDavid (r) were eliminated by the Vegas Golden Knights. photo
© Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP/dpa
The NHL season ends for Leon Draisaitl and his Oilers in game six against the Vegas Golden Knights. A disappointment for Germany’s best ice hockey player, but a hope for the DEB selection.
Leon Draisaitl was eliminated from the NHL playoffs with the Edmonton Oilers and could now theoretically travel to Finland for the Ice Hockey World Championships. In game six of the series against the Vegas Golden Knights, the Oilers lost 2-5.
The team from Las Vegas advanced to the final of the Western Conference with their fourth win and will meet the Seattle Kraken around national goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer or the Dallas Stars. In this series it is 3:3.
For the Oilers around Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, on the other hand, the season ends again before the Stanley Cup finals. The premature exit hurts, said the 27-year-old from Cologne, deeply disappointed. “It’s hard to find the right words now.” At the start of the season, it’s all about winning at the end. “This is where we are now. If you can’t do it, it feels like a failure or almost like a wasted year,” Draisaitl confessed.
In the most important home game of the season, the hosts turned an early deficit into a 2-1 lead in the first three minutes, but then conceded a hat-trick from Vegas pro Jonathan Marchessault in the second period. In the final minute, William Karlsson scored into the empty Oilers goal.
NHL star to DEB team?
Draisaitl remained without a goal and ended the playoffs with 18 points. With 13 goals, he is clearly the top scorer in the playoffs.
Should Draisaitl decide to travel to Finland and want to help select the German Ice Hockey Federation, he would probably not be available until the end of the week. When asked about this scenario, sports director Christian Künast recently emphasized after the 3-4 win against Finland: “It would always be worth it. A Leon Draisaitl would also be worth a game.”
Before the third World Cup preliminary round game of the DEB selection on Monday in Tampere against the USA, the DEB did not want to officially comment on the status of the talks with Draisaitl. However, Künast had already announced on Sunday that he wanted to contact the superstar after a possible playoff. He just had to think about whether to give him a little more time first. “But usually he’s still awake. Then I’ll ask,” said Künast.
According to DEB, participation in the World Cup would not fail because of the high sum insured. “We clarified the insurance beforehand,” said the DEB sports director. So far, national coach Harold Kreis has also kept two managerial positions vacant for Draisaitl and Grubauer to take part in the World Cup.