EDMONTON – It was each a giant win and hopefully not too big of a loss for the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.
Connor McDavid had three assists because the Edmonton Oilers picked up a pair of invaluable 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 tough hit early in the primary period from Ozzy Wiesblatt and suffered an injury, coming back for a few shifts before opting to not return for the beginning 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 checked out him and so they were comfortable with him trying it out. He went out again and just didn’t feel quite right.
“The actual fact the medical staff said it doesn’t seem too bad, no immediate red flags, tells me it shouldn’t be a extremely long injury. There may be some break day, but we’ll discover later.”
Rookie forward Matthew Savoie, who scored his eleventh of the season, said it was essential for everybody to rise to the occasion with Draisaitl happening.
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“Obviously when it’s a player like Leon, it’s got to be a committee of men that step up and fill different roles and really contribute to us having success because this can be a big a part of our season and we actually need to rally off some wins and put ourselves in a superb spot,” Savoie said.
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“That is a very powerful time of the season. I feel the fireplace in here is there and is just continuing to grow and we’re continuing to search out our game.”
Draisaitl notched his thirty fifth of the campaign before happening and Zach Hyman also scored for the Oilers (33-26-9), who snapped a two-game skid in what has develop into a heated fight for playoff positions within the Pacific Division and with wild-card challengers nipping at their heels.
“We’re at a degree within the season where we don’t have a selection,” said Hyman, who has 28 goals in 49 games this season. “We’ve to play well. We’ve to win games. We’ve to shut games out. We’ve to play strong defensively. We did all those things — it was a superb team effort from our goalie all the way in which out.”
Edmonton sits third within the Pacific, two points back of Anaheim in first and one back of Vegas in second. Seattle holds the ultimate playoff spot within the West, sitting just three points back of the Oilers.
Connor Ingram recorded 26 saves to earn the win within the Edmonton net.
“The standard of the starts have been about 75 to 80 per cent where he’s given us good games,” Knoblauch said. “Of all of the games he’s played there’s possibly two poor ones. He’s been a extremely good player for us. We want goaltending like that and he’s been solid. Our team must have plenty of confidence in him.”
The Oilers have owned the Predators in recent times, with a 16-1-3 record of their last 20 games against them. Edmonton is now 25-4-5 when scoring first this season.
McDavid prolonged his points streak against Nashville to 18 games, tying his best profession run against a single opponent. Only Draisaitl has an extended current streak against a single opponent within the NHL, with points in 20 straight games against Chicago. In 27 profession 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 thirtieth assist in the competition, has been an enormous addition since coming over from Nashville on 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.
© 2026 The Canadian Press