GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Predators 0

NASHVILLE, TN - Tigers are formidable predators, but the Leon is king of the jungle.
Leon Draisaitl continued his dominance over Smashville on Thursday night with a hat trick, while Mike Smith made all 30 saves for the Edmonton Oilers in a 4-0 shutout of the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena.
Three goals for Draisaitl increase his all-time numbers against the Predators to 19 goals in 20 career games, while also improving his career-high for goals to 54 and matching his best points total from the 2018-19 season with 105.
Smith's shutout was the first of his campaign, nearly one year to the day when he recorded his last one against the Winnipeg Jets, and the 43rd of his career. The 40-year-old netminder earned his fifth-straight win and improved his season record to 12-9-2.

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FIRST BLOOD

The 52nd tuck of the season for Leon Draisaitl seven-and-a-half minutes into the contest opened the scoring at Bridgestone Arena after a high-stick from Alexander Carrier on Derek Ryan in front of goal gave the Oilers the opening powerplay. Connor McDavid fed Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who one-touched a pass from the slot onto the tape of the German in his usual spot in the right circle to one-time home his franchise-leading 22nd PPG of the year.
The Oilers got some late consolation on Tuesday with a third-period power-play marker that served as the lone bright spot in an otherwise tough evening against Minnesota, and the momentum from that goal on the man advantage rolled right into tonight's game as part of a 2-for-4 evening. On the other side of special teams, the penalty kill went a perfect 3-for-3 and is now 20-for-21 over their last seven games.

FEED THE LEON

Leon just continues to light the lamp on the Predators.
The German notched his second hat trick of the season on Thursday night, marking the seventh time in Edmonton's last eight meetings with Nashville that the German has posted a multi-goal game. The three-goal night marked his 15th, 16th and 17th goals against the Central Division side in a total of nine games over the last three seasons.
He's now scored more than half (17) of Edmonton's 33 total goals on the Predators over the previous three years, with the next-closest teammate of Draisaitl's being McDavid with three. He had two goals and an assist against the Predators earlier this season, and potted four goals and an assist last time the Oilers came to the Bridgestone Arena on Mar. 2, 2020 and left with an 8-3 victory.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Zach Hyman accelerated up the ice and rounded Nashville forward Eeli Tolvanen before delivering the perfect feed from behind the net to Draisaitl, who buried his second of the game with a seeing-eye snipe that alluded the Predator bodies in front and nestled itself into the top-left corner with just under seven-and-a-half to go in the middle frame.
Hyman's assist was the forward's 50th point of the season as he continues to build on a career-high with 24 goals and 26 assists in 69 games this campaign.

DARNELL & DOWN A MAN

As Tanner Jeannot exited the penalty box to make it 5-on-4 for the Predators, the Oilers were already in transition through Evander Kane, who passed off to Darnell Nurse in the slot to snipe a short-handed goal and his ninth of the season into the top-left corner just five seconds after Nashville returned to even strength. Darnell's goal down a man makes it 10 short-handed tallies for the Oilers this season, which ties the club for fourth in the NHL with the Vegas Golden Knights behind the Toronto Maple Leafs (12), Florida Panthers (11), and Los Angeles Kings (11).

SAVE OF THE GAME

The Predators knew they needed a good start to the third period after being down by three at the second intermission, and Matt Duchene nearly made it just that if it weren't for the incredible glove of Smith. Duchene spun around Nurse at the blueline and cut towards goal before taking the puck forehand-to-backhand and putting his effort on goal, but Smith stretched out and denied the Nashville forward with a great instinctive glove save inside the opening 30 seconds of the final frame.
Smith claimed the shutout at the final buzzer and earned his fifth-consecutive victory on Thursday night in the process.

PARTING WORDS

Draisaitl on the Oilers performance in Nashville on Thursday night:
"Obviously not our best in Minnesota, but good teams make sure they respond. We are a good team, and I thought we responded really well tonight. A full 60 minutes and every facet of the game was checked off."
Draisaitl on the play of Mike Smith in his shutout performance:
"He battles, right? That's his thing. He plays the puck better than a lot of players do and he battles. He's been amazing, Kosky too, they've been great for us. It's great rewarding him with a shutout."
Draisaitl on his career numbers and performances against the Predators:
"Sometimes you have a team where it seems to work a little better against than others. A couple of great plays tonight by some guys. Fortunately, I took advantage of it."
Draisaitl on flirting with 60 goals this season after scoring his 52nd, 53rd and 54th tonight:
"If I can get there (to 60 goals), it's great. I'm not going to try and stop scoring, but I'm not going to force this. Whatever happens, happens. I'd be happy to get to the mark, but if not, I'm totally fine with that."

Smith on the bounce-back game after Edmonton's tough night in Minnesota on Tuesday:
"We wanted to bounce back and have a better effort than we did in Minny. (Tonight was) as complete of an effort you can have against a really good hockey team in their building. It's always tough to play in here, it's always a good atmosphere, and we had a good start to the game. We got up in the first and carried the momentum the full 60 (minutes)."
Smith on his strong play, including winning his last five starts in a row:
"It's not how you start, it's how you finish. To be honest, I'm not really worried about what's past now, you can't control that. It's been a different season, but all you can control is your next game. I feel like I've been really focused on that and I feel good in the net and that's all that counts this time of year. You want to play important games, I've said that my entire career."
Smith on coming back form injury with a streak of solid performances:
"Physically, when you're not feeling healthy, I think you're maybe favouring the injury a little bit and it's not as smooth as you like it. That affects your mental game because you're not performing how you'd like and you maybe put a little more pressure on yourself. Then you're trying so hard, you're just snowballing and it can get out of control a bit. I feel like I put in some really good work with (Goaltending Coach Dustin Schwartz) and watched a lot film dissecting the game a little bit back to where I felt it needed to be. Health was the most important, but everything else I put the work in and the work will pay off eventually."

Smith on Draisaitl reaching 54 goals this season:
"It's even more impressive that he can do it with the stick he's using. If anyone has seen the paddle he uses, it's better for flipping pancakes with that thing. He's going out and scoring 54, and he's going to keep on trucking. He's a special talent. To have the opportunity to play with a guy like that and Connor, it's not something I take for granted."
"He's just deadly accurate. It's heavy and he can shoot it from a lot of different positions and angles, he can catch you off guard. He can thread the needle pretty well and that's why he's where he is with the goals that he gas. I think he's scored from every different spot on the ice."
Smith on his big save at the start of the third period:
"(Duchene) made a good move on me and I kind of bit on it. Instincts kicked in and I tried to get something on it and it ended up in my glove. It's an important time in the game to make a save like that. Obviously, we knew they were going to push in the third. They weren't going to go away but we responded and got the win."
Coach Woodcroft on going back to 11 forwards, seven defencemen and making some lineup changes:
"I don't think the people who didn't play had done anything egregiously wrong or anything. For us, we wanted to get Kris Russell up and running and back into a game. I thought Kris early in the game, he set a physical tone. He had a lot of really good plays he made with the puck and he was physical when called upon. That was the reasoning behind it. We feel comfortable going 11-7 if we have to. It doesn't mean we will. We aren't stuck in a way of thinking. We're fluid and will take things on a day-by-day basis, but tonight it worked for us."

Woodcroft on Draisaitl's scoring ability:
"He has elite hockey sense. He puts himself in positions to score. His release is very underrated. How quickly he gets it off, there's a heaviness to his shot. He put himself in those positions to score and tonight I was pretty impressed with the goals he scored."
Woodcroft on Draisaitl's stick pattern:
"I would say the closest pattern and lie that I've seen is Datsyuk. Everyone talks about his shot, but how about his passing ability with that stick? He can pass just as well on his backhand as he can his forehand."