Bad Blow on Draisaitl: Aftermath?
Oilers dominate – Draisaitl continues to chase records
The Edmonton Oilers equalize in the playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights. In the end, Leon Draisaitl is the victim of a violent foul that heats up.
The day before the start of the Ice Hockey World Championships in Finland and Latvia, the German superstar Leon Draisaitl (27) and his Edmonton Oilers are back in the running for the… Playoff Semifinals the NHL – and also for another reason involuntarily in the focus of attention.
The Canadians comfortably won the fourth game against the Vegas Golden Knights 4-1 and thus equalized in the home arena in the best-of-seven series to 2-2.
Shortly before the end, Draisaitl missed the chance to make it 5-1 by scoring into an empty goal. Immediately afterwards he received a brutal, double-handed smack from opponent Alex Pietrangelo. After the scene was evaluated via video evidence, he had to leave the ice with a game penalty.
Not a sufficient sanction, as the most prominent teammate Draisaitls found.
“It was a deliberate attempt to injure”
“I definitely want you to watch it again. I want that to result in a suspension,” Edmonton captain Connor McDavid demanded after the game: “It was a deliberate attempt to injure, as bad as it can be. It wasn’t an ice hockey action anymore.”
Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft also expressed his displeasure with Pietrangelo: “If you ask me for my opinion: I would no longer define it as an ice hockey action. I’ll leave it at that.”
Things continued to heat up after Pietrangelo’s sending off: Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse and Nicolas Hague were sent off after a brawl, Nurse was ruled an instigator and would receive an automatic one-game ban unless the scene was re-evaluated afterwards should.
Draisaitl extends the lead in the scorer ranking
At the end of the first period, Draisaitl made it 3-0 from Mattias Ekholm, while Nick Bjugstad, Evan Bouchard and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored the other goals to win. Nicolas Roy only managed to catch up in the final section.
For Draisaitl it was the 18th goal involvement in the tenth playoff game of the season, leading the postseason scorer list. The Cologne native is also at the top of the list of top scorers with 13 goals.
In the main round he had set a personal best with 128 points. With the best main round since the glory days of club legend Wayne Gretzky, Draisaitl and Co. have raised the expectations of the fans.
The Oilers won their fifth and most recent Stanley Cup 33 years ago. Edmonton defeated the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the playoffs. Last year, the Oilers lost to eventual champions Colorado Avalanche in the semifinals.
National team with NHL colleagues starts the World Cup on Friday
The Oilers have to go back to Las Vegas on Friday before the decision could be made in Edmonton on Sunday. At the same time, Draisaitl, who is not available for the World Cup, is keeping his fingers crossed for his German colleagues, who will start the World Cup tournament on Friday with a duel against Sweden (from 7 p.m LIVE on TV and LIVESTREAM on SPORT1). Also taking part are Draisaitl’s NHL colleagues Moritz Seider, Nico Sturm and John-Jason Peterka (Peterka in the SPORT1 interview: what the youngster is up to).
The Toronto Maple Leafs defended in the second NHL playoff game on Wednesday with a 2:1 against the Florida Panthers a first match point. However, the Panthers still have more chances thanks to a 3-1 lead in the series.
With Sports Information Service (SID)