Leon Draisaitl scored twice in a four-point game and Zach Hyman collected one goal and three assists as the visiting Edmonton Oilers defeated the Nashville Predators 6-1 on Tuesday for their first victory of the season.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored once and collected two assists, while Connor McDavid and Warren Foegele each tallied one goal and one assist for the high-octane Oilers.
Goaltender Jack Campbell made 42 saves, 17 of them in the second period, as Edmonton snapped a two-game losing streak to start the campaign.
Tommy Novak scored the lone goal for the Predators, who have lost two straight games. Goalie Juuse Saros stopped 7 of 11 shots before receiving a mercy pull following the first period. Kevin Lankinen made 17 saves in mop-up duty.
The Oilers, who dropped both halves of a home-and-home series with the Vancouver Canucks to start the season and were outscored 12-4 in the process, stormed out of the gate and were rewarded when Draisaitl’s power-play goal opened the scoring at the 8:11 mark of the first. Draisaitl converted a one-timer and became the franchise’s all-time leader with 127 power-play goals.
Hyman doubled the lead at 13:38 of the first period when he was on the spot for a loose puck to net his first goal of the season. Then, Nugent-Hopkins converted a sharp-angled tally at 16:45 for his second goal of the campaign.
McDavid capped the four-goal first period 61 seconds later when he pounced on a turnover just inside the offensive blue line and buried a shot off the far post to net his second goal of the season.
Novak put the Predators on the board with a power-play goal of his own at 2:08 of the second period, but any comeback hopes for Nashville disappeared quickly.
Draisaitl scored his second power-play marker of the game less than six minutes later to restore the four-goal edge. Draisaitl, who has four goals this season, has netted 24 goals in 24 career games against the Predators. He has 34 points (22 goals, 12 assists) during the Oilers’ 12-game point streak (10-0-2) against the Predators.
Foegele rounded out the scoring at 15:27 of the middle frame when he collected his first goal of the season with a snap shot from the right circle.
–Field Level Media
