People always like to say that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.
That’s often true, but it’s also true that sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got until somebody else is gone.
And so it was with Leon Draisaitl Thursday in Edmonton’s first game without injured captain Connor McDavid. We’ve all known for years that the top of Draisaitl’s game is as good as there is in the NHL.
He’s a proven warrior, a proven money player, and one of the best shooters in the game who also happens to be one of the best passers in the game.
So when the Oilers needed something special in their captain’s absence, it’s no surprise that the tenacious German answered the call, once again reminding hockey fans in Edmonton that while there is only one Connor McDavid, you better damn believe that there is only one Leon Draisaitl.
The score line in Edmonton’s 5-1 win over the Nashville Predators had his footprints all over it: He set up the first goal, scored the third and fourth goals, and finished plus three in 19:20 worth of ice time.
“He did it right from the start,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “You knew that with Connor not being here we needed somebody to step up. Everyone needed to, but the biggest one is your best player and he was our best player. Tonight he didn’t disappoint.
“Everything he did tonight, whether it was key faceoffs, goals at big times, you could tell he was ready to play, and that first shift showed it.”
Draisaitl knew the bulk of the slack was going to fall on his shoulders and he was fine with that. He relishes the challenge. You don’t get to be one of the top five or six players in the world by shying away from a difficult challenge.
“When he’s out it puts a little more pressure on me but I love those situations,” he said. “I think I’ve always been good in stepping up in those moments. Obviously, we miss him, you can’t replace him, but we have to figure it out as a group.”
That’s what they did. This wasn’t a one-man show by any stretch — on a night when the Oilers needed everyone to chip in, Zach Hyman and Viktor Arvidsson scored their first goals of the season, and the Oilers, for the most part, were on point defensively. They’ll need more of that going forward.
“You’re never going to take care of Connor leaving,” said Draisaitl. “There are always going to be some pieces missing. He’s the best player in the world so we’re certainly going to miss him but it also creates a lot of opportunities, a lot of looks for other players. I thought tonight everyone did a great job of accepting that, sticking together, and playing collectively as a group.”
Noah offence
As if the night wasn’t perfect enough with Edmonton scoring a 5-1 decision, Noah Philp, in his first-ever NHL game, assisted on Corey Perry’s winning goal.
You couldn’t have scripted it any better on this front, either.
“It was really his first shift of the game,” said Knoblauch, who had the 26-year-old centre out there for a few seconds earlier in the period. “He had a really good game tonight.”
Philp logged just under 12 minutes, had three shots on net, an assist, and was a rock solid 10-4 in the face-off circle.
“For him to do that tonight against a very good faceoff team is very impressive,” said Knoblauch. “Very important for us.”
After taking last season off to address his mental health, Philp hit the ground running this year. He looked good enough in training camp to make the team and his performance Thursday night, against stiffer completion, on a team that didn’t have McDavid on it, proved that those exhibition games were no fluke.
“That was an amazing game,” he smiled afterward. “The energy from all the guys was so much fun to be a part of and to have my family here was incredible.
“They were all standing there right at the glass (for his traditional solo lap during pre-game warm-up). I went up and gave them a smile and took a quick picture. That was a pretty precious moment for all of us.”
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