“It's Oil over”, Leon Draisaitl
German ice hockey icon slides past NHL record
What a roller coaster ride for Leon Draisaitl and his Edmonton Oilers. They start the NHL season as title favorites, can't win at all and suddenly can't lose anymore. Shortly before an incredible record, the defending champions prove to be too strong. Everything at the beginning.
Stumbled at the last step: Ice hockey star Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers narrowly missed the winning record in the NHL. The Canadians lost 3-1 to the defending champions Vegas Golden Knights and left the ice as losers after 16 wins in a row.
“It’s Oil over,” was the headline of the NHL on its homepage. The Pittsburgh Penguins still hold the unrivaled record of 17 successes in a row; in the 1992/93 season, the team from Pennsylvania achieved this with superstars Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr.
“It's been a while since we lost. And sometimes you forget how much you hate defeats,” said Connor McDavid, Draisaitl's strike partner and goalscorer in Vegas: “Now we know it again. This game had a playoff atmosphere, There are always such close duels in which you have to take action, we couldn't do that.”
All-Star Game breaks Oilers
Edmonton took the lead early on, and while outnumbered, Draisaitl set up McDavid to make it 1-0. But in the first third, Vegas equalized through Nicolas Roy, and in the final period of the game, Chandler Stephenson and William Karlsson made the decision in favor of the hosts – who had already inflicted a painful defeat on the Oilers nine months ago: Edmonton failed in the quarterfinals of the playoffs on the later master.
At the beginning of the current season, the Oilers got off to a bad start, but picked themselves up and started their series shortly before Christmas. The end of the successful run now came after an unwelcome break: the All-Star weekend was coming up, they would actually “like to continue playing,” said Draisaitl previously – the return to everyday league life now brought defeat at an inopportune time.
The Oilers missed a historic opportunity, but the game in Las Vegas has little impact on the sport. Edmonton remains in third place in the Pacific Division with 59 points and is therefore in a playoff spot. The team also played fewer games than its direct competition. “We needed a series to get back in the race, and we managed that,” said McDavid: “Now we’re looking forward.”
