EDMONTON -- Leon Draisaitl helped carry the Edmonton Oilers to the Stanley Cup Final with 106 points (41 goals, 65 assists) during the regular season, but the center has been held without a point through the first three games against the Florida Panthers.
Draisaitl will be looking to end the drought and help the Oilers stave off elimination in Game 4 at Rogers Place on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, ESPN+, ABC), down 3-0 in the best-of-7 series.
“Not too often Leon’s held off the scoresheet like he has been, but I think he has been contributing,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said Saturday. “You look at the [Ryan] McLeod goal (in Game 3), he didn’t get a point on that but I think he was the catalyst, he did most of the work on that to set that goal up.”
Draisaitl is second in scoring during the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists) in 21 games, behind teammate and Edmonton captain Connor McDavid, who has 34 points (five goals, 29 assists) in 21 games.
The three-game pointless streak is Draisaitl's longest this postseason. He had 10 points (five goals, five assists) in five games against the Los Angeles Kings in the first round, 14 points (three goals, 11 assists) in seven games against the Vancouver Canucks in the second, and four points (two goals, two assists) in six games against the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final.
Draisaitl did not go three games without a point throughout the entire regular season.
“Sometimes it’s not fair to just judge a player on his points, his goals and assists,” Knoblauch said. “Yeah, I’ve seen Leon play better, but to say he’s playing poorly, I think is vastly unfair. I think he’s helping a lot but like our team, everyone can be a little bit better and he takes a lot of pride in his game. he doesn’t hide anything; he doesn’t make excuses.
“So often players will make excuses, things haven’t gone well because of this, ‘I’ve been unfortunate’ and all that, but Leon takes a lot of responsibility and he’s been pretty good from every game I’ve seen him play.”