Leon Draisaitl broke a tie on a power play midway through the third period in the Edmonton Oilers‘ 3-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.
“Sometime the boring games are the most solid,” Draisaitl said after scoring his first of the season to help snap a two-game slide. “We were very solid for 60 minutes … that’s a huge win. That’s more the way we want to play.”
The team will meet again Friday night at Scotiabank Arena in the second of nine North Division meetings between the clubs in the abbreviated schedule.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE
Draisaitl scored with Jake Muzzin in the penalty box for tripping, firing home a loose puck after Ryan Nugent-Hopkins took the initial shot. The reigning Hart Trophy and Art Ross Trophy winner ended the Oilers’ 0-for-12 power-play drought.
“Maybe that’s the bounce that we needed,” Draisaitl said. “Maybe that’s one we deserved.”
Kailer Yamamoto was credited with the opening goal for Edmonton after the Maple Leafs fumbled the puck into their own net in the first.
Mikko Koskinen made 25 saves, Josh Archibald scored into an empty net with 1:06 left.
Auston Matthews scored for Toronto, and Frederik Andersen made 19 saves.
“I think both teams watched the pre-scout and were just trying to key in on the top guys,” Matthews said. “It was a pretty uneventful game. Not really much going on. Not really expected, but we’ve got to do a much better job creating.”
Toronto once again dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen, but was left with just 10 skaters up front when Joe Thornton took a hit from Archibald and headed to the locker room with what looked like an arm or wrist injury early in the period. Coach Sheldon Keefe said it appears the 41-year-old forward “will definitely miss some time.”
“It was a strange game,” Keefe said. “It was the first game that felt like a game with no fans.
>>>>