Draisaitl had harsh words for himself despite scoring Edmonton Oilers winner
Leon Draisaitl may have scored the game-winning goal for the Edmonton Oilers in the dying minutes of Friday night’s 3-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks, but he wasn’t satisfied with himself.
The German superstar notched his ninth game-winner of the season with the goal and increased his overall total to a league-leading 28. Yet, after the game, the only thing Draisaitl wanted to talk about was how poor of a game he thought he had.
Outside of goal, Draisaitl harped on himself about a few turnovers and an inability to establish a presence in the Duck’s o-zone throughout the night.
“All in all, especially on my behalf and on our line, too many turnovers,” Draisaitl said. “Felt like the momentum, we would have it and then a turnover would happen and it’d just be kind of back and forth, but that’s mainly our line tonight, mainly me.
“It was mostly me who had a lot of turnovers and didn’t really drive the puck deep enough to sustain anything. Those games happen, they’re gonna happen again, obviously try to limit them.”
"I take big pride in stepping up when it's needed most… Some years it seems to go your way in certain moments & other years it doesn't. That's just the way this league works."
Leon Draisaitl on his 28 goals including 9 game-winners.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/7RXVDY2ZnO
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) January 4, 2025
It certainly wasn’t a masterpiece of performance but one by Draisaitl tonight and he did lead all Oilers forwards in giveaways tonight with two recorded on the scoresheet. It would be difficult to point to him as being Edmonton’s best player tonight, but he was far from the problem as well.
Scoring the winner almost assures that fact as he helped the Oilers avoid what could have been a disastrous second-straight loss against a lowly Ducks squad in less than a week. That is something that Draisaitl can also appreciate following the victory.
“I take big pride in stepping up when it’s needed most, it’s always something that’s really important to me,” Draisaitl said. “Some years it seems to go your way in certain moments and other years it doesn’t, it’s just the way this league works.”
Draisaitl has been one of the most competitive players in the entire NHL since he entered the league back in 2014 and it takes some high standards to look at that performance and deem that it isn’t good enough.
With the way the season has gone for Draisaitl so far, it’s safe to say that the Oilers fanbase will let him get away with this one for now.