In his first game in over a month, Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl continues to show how he can step up to the moment and also elevate those around him.
Game 1 between the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks wasn't Leon Draisaitl's favorite playoff game, but it might go down as one of his most important.
While Connor McDavid was unable to find the scoresheet, Draisaitl had two big assists in his first game since sustaining a lower-body injury on March 15. The Oilers won 4-3 after blowing a 2-0 lead and even trailing at one point.
That said, he's still not at the level he wants to be just yet.
"I felt OK," Draisaitl said. "Certainly going to take a couple games to really be myself again and really trust myself again, but for a start, I thought it was OK."
While the talk rightfully centered around Jason Dickinson and Kasperi Kapanen each scoring twice, Draisaitl helped elevate the line of himself, Kapanen and Vasily Podkolzin.
In fact, considering the type of plays Draisaitl made on both of his helpers, Edmonton might be trailing Anaheim 1-0 in the first-round playoff series if he weren't in the lineup.
On Kapanen's first goal of the game, Draisaitl settled a loose puck to feed him a tape-to-tape pass in the slot.
For the game-winning goal, Draisaitl split two Ducks defenders to enter the zone before finding Podkolzin, who drew defenders to set up Kapanen in the low slot.
"Leon's obviously the brains, and he can shoot the puck, and he can kind of do whatever he wants out there on the ice at times," Kapanen said. "Me and Podzy just try to get him the puck and get available, and I think those two goals today were kind of a culmination of all those things."
While his timing on the power play was off, Draisaitl was still able to adjust and find ways to be effective in all situations.
The trio's strong performance wasn't only tied to play in the offensive zone. The line also gave up no high-danger chances while generating five of their own at 5-on-5, according to naturalstattrick.com.
When Draisaitl returns to his standard, any line he's on will become even more dynamic.
Watch the video column up above for more about how Draisaitl and his line took the pressure off McDavid in Game 1.
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