Leon Draisaitl has played long enough to know that star power alone doesn’t win Stanley Cups. On Monday night, as the Edmonton Oilers rallied for a dramatic 4–3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks in Game one of their first-round playoff series, it was the depth players who delivered and Draisaitl was first in line to acknowledge it.
Jason Dickinson and Kasperi Kapanen each scored twice, with Kapanen’s second goal coming with just 1:54 remaining to complete the comeback at Rogers Place. For Draisaitl, making his return after missing 14 games with a lower-body injury, the contributions from the supporting cast proved invaluable in a game where Edmonton’s stars struggled to dominate.
Oilers depth scoring steals the show
The Oilers’ usual offensive engines sputtered Monday night. McDavid was held off the scoresheet for the first time all season in an Edmonton victory. Draisaitl managed two assists but admitted he wasn’t quite himself. Yet the Oilers found a way, thanks to players further down the lineup who rose to the moment.
Draisaitl was candid when praising the duo’s performance and pointed out how critical those contributions become in playoff hockey.
“It’s everything this time of year,” Draisaitl said. “Your top players have to be your top players. But you’re not going anywhere if you don’t have guys like that chipping in. We don’t expect two goals from guys like that every night, of course, but you need that and both of them played a heck of a game.”
After dominating the opening frame and building a 2–0 lead on late first-period goals from Dickinson and Kapanen, the Oilers fell behind in the second period. The Ducks scored three unanswered goals including two from Troy Terry, to grab a 3–2 lead heading into the final frame.
Between the second and third periods, the message in Edmonton’s locker room was to get back to basics.
“Just not our game,” Leon Draisaitl said of the second-period struggles. “Too many turnovers, too many. Not hard enough on pucks and then sometimes it’s just about simplifying a little bit, right? And thought we did a decent job of that.”
Draisaitl gives his flowers to Connor Ingram
The simplified approach worked, but Edmonton also needed their goaltender to bail them out. Connor Ingram, making his playoff debut with the Oilers, stopped 25 of 28 shots and made what Draisaitl described as the game’s defining moment with a massive save on a two-on-one in the third period.
“Yeah, I mean really good,” Draisaitl said when asked about Ingram’s performance. “Huge stop there in the third on that two-on-one. That’s the game pretty much. So yeah, he gave us a chance. So he was big.”
Ingram, who earned his first career playoff victory after three previous unsuccessful attempts, downplayed the heroics with characteristic modesty. The 29-year-old netminder, who spent much of his career toiling in front of sparse crowds at Arizona’s Mullet Arena, savored every moment of the raucous Rogers Place atmosphere.
“It was awesome,” Ingram said of the playoff debut. “I mean, the bulk of my career I played out of Mullet Arena. So, to walk out to walk out the tunnel today was it’s a different animal. It’s loud in there. And it was fun.”
Jason Dickinson’s long-awaited playoff moment
If anyone appreciated the moment more than Ingram, it might have been Dickinson. The 30-year-old centre acquired at the trade deadline scored his first two playoff goals as an Oiler after missing the final three games of the regular season with a leg injury.
His first came on a breakaway dangle in the first period and his second tied the game at 3–3 in the third after Ducks captain Radko Gudas fell.
Draisaitl’s voice filled with genuine excitement when discussing Dickinson’s performance, recognizing how long some players wait for opportunities like this.
“Yeah, I mean it’s amazing,” Draisaitl said. “I think he’s been waiting to play playoff hockey for a long time now, a couple years and it’s exciting. You know, guys like that, they’re invaluable to a team and really really happy for him. Obviously a great night for him.”
Leon Draisaitl gets candid on his own performance
As much as Draisaitl celebrated his teammates, he was candid about his own performance.
“Uh, I felt okay,” Draisaitl admitted. “Certainly going to take a couple games to to really be myself and and and really trust myself again. But for a start, I thought it was okay.”
The power play, long Edmonton’s most lethal weapon, will need sharpening. Draisaitl acknowledged that some of the missed connections Monday night would normally be automatic for him.
“Obviously not our best, not our sharpest, but there’s a couple looks there that, you know, we didn’t or if I didn’t miss a couple weeks, I’m much more clean on those and and there’s a chance to connect on it,” he explained. “So, certainly we’ll chip away at it and be better next game.”
Despite the loss, Anaheim impressed in their first playoff appearance since 2018. The Ducks’ speed and skill level caught Edmonton off-guard at times, particularly in transition. Draisaitl made clear this series won’t be easy.
“Yeah, they’re skilled,” he said. “We knew that they can score. They’re good off the rush, you know, they can all skate. It’s a good hockey team. Two two good teams going at it.”
Looking ahead to Game 2
The Oilers survived Game one despite an uneven performance, winning without a point from McDavid for the first time all season. They overcame a blown lead, a power play that didn’t click and rust from key players returning from injury.
For a team that’s reached the Stanley Cup Final in each of the last two seasons, that kind of resilience could prove critical as the playoffs progress. And for Leon Draisaitl, who’s taking his recovery day by day, the timing will only improve.
“Obviously I was skating a couple days and testing it out and you know it ramps up in terms of intensity and whatnot,” he said. “So, take it day by day and see how you feel.”
Day one is complete. The depth players delivered. And in the playoffs, that might be all that matters.
Oilers host the Ducks for Game two on Wednesday, April 23 at Rogers Place, 8:00 PM MT.
2 Comments