Lyon Draisaitl shoots Edmonton Oilers to win, top scorer

Munich – Leon Drystel scored for his Edmonton Oilers team with two goals and two assists to achieve their seventh victory in the eighth game of the National Hockey League.

The 26-year-old from Cologne excelled in the 5-2 win over the Seattle Kraken. With two goals and assists, Draisatil was once again the best player on the ice.

With 17 points (seven goals, ten assists) Driestel and teammate Conor McDavid lead the league’s statistics.

Draisaitl: “You can win in different ways”

After the match, as usual, the striker did not want to emphasize his performance. Draisaitl said: “I think it speaks to the depth of our team that we can win in different ways. We can win in playing power, with our own teams, or our goalkeeper can take you out. Defenders can intervene, including our third row who has already won matches. That is a great asset to the team. “.

This time it was not Kraken’s national goalkeeper Philip Grobauer’s goal, the five goals – after Driestel also scored Duncan Keith, Kyle Torres and Kyle Yamamoto – Grobauer’s teammate Joy Dakur admitted.

“I don’t think this was our best game but good teams always find a way and we did it today,” said Keith, the 38-year-old defender, who played his 1,200 NHL game.

Draisaitl was already Athlete of the Year and MVP

Draisaitl is showing this season as one of the best players in the NHL. The Cologne native is not top scorer for the first time. He achieved this at the end of the 2019/20 regular season with a total of 110 points (goals + assists).

Draisaitl then received the “Art Ross Trophy”, the award for the player with the most points at the end of the season.

But this was by no means his most successful season to date: In addition, the center was voted NHL Player of the Year by journalists (Hart Memorial Trophy) as well as by fellow players and opponents (Ted Lindsay Award). No German has won these awards before him.

This outstanding achievement was also recognized at the national level. Draisaitl was named Sportsman of the Year in 2020. However, Oilers did not have much success. Edmonton lost 3-1 to the Chicago Blackhawks in the playoffs round.

After the end of last season, Draisaitl finished second behind teammate Connor McDavid in the league’s top scorer rankings.

The Stanley Cup dream is still alive

Draisaitl has already achieved everything individually. But what matters to the best German ice hockey player at the moment is the team’s success, as he revealed to GQ magazine before the season: “The sport I play is a team sport and it’s about winning as much of a team as possible. I think we can definitely be better.”

Perhaps the center was aiming for the disappointing playoff in pre-season. Edmonton were knocked out after a 4-0 draw with the Winnipeg Jets in the first round of knockout. The goal remains to win the Stanley Cup, as Driesitl emphasized: “Of course I hope we can build something over the next few years and win the championship one day.”

To achieve this goal, the Oilers team must improve especially in the playoffs. Since the German was named third in the draft in 2014, Edmonton has made it to the post-season just three times. Since then, Draisaitl and Co. have won. Knockout round only once.

Draisaitl like Nowitzki for ice hockey?

There are certainly parallels between the current top German export of the sport to North America and a future member of the NBA Hall of Fame. In 2011, Dirk Nowitzki was the first athlete on the team to win the German Athlete of the Year award. No other player on the team was able to do so until Draisaitl 2020.

Both are among the absolute best superstars in their sport in the United States and are loved by their fans. Like Draisaitl in the NHL, Nowitzki also received the award as the most valuable player in the NBA.

But apart from the fact that one of them is already retired, the main sports exports still distinguish two main things. Leon Drystel seems largely unknown in this country.

“I can still walk around town without recognizing us. Sometimes it’s really good to be quiet,” Driesitl revealed as a guest on “Current Sports Studio” about a year ago.

The second difference besides awareness: Nowitzki led his team to the 2011 NBA Championship after several failed attempts. The NHL professional has been far from that in his career.

What could disturb the peace and quiet of the future home? Stanley Cup success. It is likely that this will finally allow him to rise to the “Novitsky ice hockey”.

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