It was a frustrating night for Leon Draisaitl despite scoring the OT winner for the Edmonton Oilers in a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks.
The Oilers were behind for most of the game despite dominating the Sharks in almost every area of the ice. San Jose goalie Yaroslav Askarov nearly stole the victory away from Edmonton, making an incredible 39 stops in regulation.
However, the Sharks had some luck on their side as well with Draisaitl missing not one, but two, wide-open nets in the third period. The first saw the German superstar hit the post while the other simply missed the net.
Luckily, Mattias Ekholm was able to tie things up in the dying seconds and Draisaitl scored the winner in OT. Daily Hive asked Leon after the game what was going through his head after missing those two previous chances and he gave a short, but very fitting, answer.
“Uhhh… shit,” Draisaitl replied with a laugh. “It’s not a great feeling, every player has those once in a while.
“It’s always one of those where you come back to the bench and you’re like “If I just settled it down for a second I’d have more time”… The game is so fast sometimes the brain doesn’t operate at that speed.”
“These are always exciting & fun… We’ve done a good job the last two nights of finding a way to close out the game.”
Leon Draisaitl on the #Oilers coming back late in the third to win in overtime in back-to-back games.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/akssCxo0Rf
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) December 22, 2024
It was classic Draisaitl as he made sure to give an honest answer, even if that did mean swearing with a young reporter right in front of him, who was helping the Oilers with post-game media as part of their “Next-Gen” night.
The Oilers superstar made sure to apologize for language which got a laugh out of the kids helping out.
“Excuse my language by the way,” Draisaitl said to more laughs.
With the Oilers finding a way to get themselves the win, it’s easier to laugh off what must have been a frustrating night for the entire team. As mentioned, Edmonton badly outshot the Sharks by a 42-22 margin throughout the night, yet they needed nearly all 60 minutes to even push the game into OT.
The OT winner was Draisaitl’s 24th of the season, further extending his lead league in goals over Minnesota Wild star Kirill Kaprizov and Tampa Bay Lightning sniper Braydon Point. It also helped give the Oilers their 20th win of the season and brings them within one point of the LA Kings for second place in the Pacific Division.
With Christmas less than a week away, Draisaitl and the rest of the Oilers are hoping tomorrow night’s game against the Ottawa Senators is a bit less frustrating than tonight.