Oilers optimistic injured Draisaitl will return soon for playoff pursuit

Leon Draisaitl scored his 35th goal of the season and left the ice injured in a 3-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Sunday.

EDMONTON — It was both a big win and hopefully not too big of a loss for the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.

Connor McDavid had three assists as the Edmonton Oilers picked up a pair of valuable points with a 3-1 victory over the Nashville Predators in a game that star forward Leon Draisaitl left with an undisclosed injury.

Draisaitl took a hard hit early in the first period from Ozzy Wiesblatt and suffered an injury, coming back for a couple of shifts before opting not to return for the start of the second.

“He didn’t feel right, he went off, he got checked out and felt like he could play on it,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. “The medical staff looked at him and they were comfortable with him trying it out. He went out again and just didn’t feel quite right.

“The fact the medical staff said it doesn’t seem too bad, no immediate red flags, tells me it shouldn’t be a really long injury. There might be some time off, but we’ll find out later.”

Rookie forward Matthew Savoie, who scored his 11th of the season, said it was important for everyone to rise to the occasion with Draisaitl going down.

“Obviously when it’s a player like Leon, it’s got to be a committee of guys that step up and fill different roles and really contribute to us having success because this is a big part of our season and we really need to rally off some wins and put ourselves in a good spot,” Savoie said.

“This is the most important time of the season. I think the fire in here is there and is just continuing to grow and we’re continuing to find our game.”

Draisaitl notched his 35th of the campaign before going down and Zach Hyman also scored for the Oilers (33-26-9), who snapped a two-game skid in what has become a heated fight for playoff positions in the Pacific Division and with wild-card challengers nipping at their heels.

“We’re at a point in the season where we don’t have a choice,” said Hyman, who has 28 goals in 49 games this season. “We have to play well. We have to win games. We have to close games out. We have to play strong defensively. We did all those things — it was a good team effort from our goalie all the way out.”

Edmonton sits third in the Pacific, two points back of Anaheim in first and one back of Vegas in second. Seattle holds the final playoff spot in the West, sitting just three points back of the Oilers.

Connor Ingram recorded 26 saves to earn the win in the Edmonton net.

“The quality of the starts have been about 75 to 80 per cent where he’s given us good games,” Knoblauch said. “Of all the games he’s played there’s maybe two poor ones. He’s been a really good player for us. We need goaltending like that and he’s been solid. Our team should have a lot of confidence in him.”

The Oilers have owned the Predators in recent years, with a 16-1-3 record in their last 20 games against them. Edmonton is now 25-4-5 when scoring first this season.

McDavid extended his points streak against Nashville to 18 games, tying his best career run against a single opponent. Only Draisaitl has a longer current streak against a single opponent in the NHL, with points in 20 straight games against Chicago. In 27 career games against Nashville, McDavid now has 51 points (16G, 35A), while Draisaitl has 55 points (30G, 25A) in 32 games.

Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm, who picked up his 30th assist in the contest, has been a huge addition since coming over from Nashville at the 2023 trade deadline. Since that trade, Ekholm leads all NHL defencemen with a plus-109 rating.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 16, 2026.

Shane Jones, The Canadian Press