BLOG: Draisaitl ready to deliver in Stanley Cup Final to break goalless drought

EDMONTON, AB – The only deflection Leon Draisaitl wants to make is the one that leads to the next goal.

While Draisaitl hasn’t been able to find the back of the net against the Panthers during the Stanley Cup Final, limited to only two assists in five games, the high-powered German forward isn’t attributing his lack of goalscoring this series to anything Florida's throwing at him, or the looks he’s getting with his linemates Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Dylan Holloway.

For him, it’s all about the standard he sets for himself, and those high expectations are what’s pushing him to have the type of breakout night he expects with the Oilers needing a victory on home ice tonight in Game 6 to push this Final to a deciding Game 7 back in Sunrise.

“It has nothing to do with either of those. It's me,” Draisaitl said. “I've always been able to come back from stretches where I maybe haven't been at my best. It's just myself being better and like I said, I hold myself to extremely high standards. If I don't get to that, obviously, I'm not happy with it. I’m very excited for tonight.”

Draisaitl has expectedly played the second-most minutes among all Oilers forwards (65:16) at five-on-five in the Final and owns a 54.98 expected goals-for percentage (xGF%) that's third among players who've played all five games this round, which is a far cry from his actual goals-for percentage (GF%) of 42.86 – a difference of 12.82 that doesn't include his presence on the team's top power play, as per Natural Stat Trick.

If there's anyone in the dressing room who knows he's underperformed by his standards, it's the Deutschland Dangler himself, who despite his relative cold streak still owns the fifth-best points percentage in NHL history during the playoffs at 1.49.

The German still has 30 points in 23 games during the 2024 playoffs, and while he might've not had the impact he'd hoped for so far in the Stanley Cup Final without a goal in seven games (Game 4 vs. Dallas), he's one of those names that carries the reputation for breaking out at the opportune time – even if it's on one ankle during the 2022 post-season campaign.

For Head Coach Kris Knoblauch, it's only a matter of time.

"I think Leon puts a lot of pressure on himself," the bench boss said. "I think the best players always want to be the best and expect a lot out of themselves, and I've seen Leon play better than he has, but I think he's been contributing a lot and I think he's harder on himself than he should be. I think yesterday he had a good day of practice. He looked like himself and I'm expecting him to play a good game tonight."

Back during the 2022 playoffs, Draisaitl registered an incredible 32 points in 16 games (seven goals) despite sustaining a high-ankle sprain in their first-round matchup with the Los Angeles Kings, winning in seven games.

The German would go on to produce 17 points in five games during the Second Round Battle of Alberta against the Calgary Flames before scoring a league-high 13 playoff goals in just 12 games during Edmonton's second-round exit the following campaign.

This year, Draisaitl owns 10 goals and 20 assists for third in team scoring behind McDavid (42 points) and Evan Bouchard (32 points) despite a so-far quiet Stanley Cup Final by his standards.

"With Leon, a lot of can be said about his character," Knoblauch said. "He's played through injuries and come out with these unbelievable performances throughout the playoffs and this season. For me, watching him during the regular season, you know how much dedication he has towards the game. He is the first person to the rink every single day, whether that's for games or practices. He's sometimes at the rink an hour before anybody else shows up. He loves the game.

"He's very critical about himself because he expects himself to be good every single day. Sometimes that can be hard on a guy because he's too critical, and like this playoffs, his body of work has been tremendous. I think he's just being hard on himself in this series.

"I think there's more, I think he's played better, but he's still been pretty good for us."

Draisaitl's linemate Dylan Holloway hasn't seen any hesitation from him, but rather a teammate who's hellbent on helping create offence for everyone on the ice. Even when things aren't going in for him, that's what separates the best players from the elite, and Draisaitl has proven over his career that he's that and more.

"I think he's been great," Holloway said. "He obviously does put a lot of pressure on himself. He expects a lot of himself, and I think that's what makes him so good. But I think he's got to realize that even if he's not feeling great, he's still better than 99 percent of the guys out there. So he's been awesome and I think he just has to keep playing the way he is."

"He's just so good with the puck. He's always making good plays. He's good defensively on the power play. He gets a ton of touches and he's able to handle bad pucks, make it play as other guys, and it's the little things all over the ice."