Leon Draisaitl is dominating, but his Edmonton Oilers are slumping.
That, in essence, is the state of the Oilers, who are set to visit the Florida Panthers on Thursday night.
Draisaitl has scored 43 goals, leading the NHL by a wide margin. He also has at least one goal in six straight games.
Yet, the Oilers have lost four straight games.
“We’re a fragile group right now, and we’re reluctant to play our game,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Confidence is a little hard right now.
“I think everyone is a little discouraged. We have to put these adversity moments behind us.”
Knoblauch said the Oilers — with superstars Draisaitl and Connor McDavid on their side — view themselves as one of the best teams in the NHL, and they are feeling pressure to live up to that status.
With 72 points — one less than the Panthers — the Oilers are still, at the moment, a playoff team, but the losing streak is of obvious concern.
“We’re going to have to dig one out sooner or later,” Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “We’re in a bit of a hole right now.”
Draisaitl is doing his part during a nine-game point streak. He also has at least one point in 17 of his past 18 games. During that span, he has 14 goals and 14 assists.
McDavid leads the Oilers with 51 assists and ranks behind only Draisaitl with 73 points in 52 games.
But goalie Stuart Skinner is struggling with six losses in his past eight starts.
Meanwhile, the Panthers — the reigning Stanley Cup champions — are coming off a 4-1 road win over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday. Florida won without two of its forwards as Matthew Tkachuk missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury suffered during the 4 Nations Face-Off. In addition, Eetu Luostarinen missed the game as he and his wife are expecting a child.
The Panthers, who have won three of their past four games, beat Nashville with backup goalie Spencer Knight in net.
“We’re not thinking about patterns, streaks, trends or whatever,” said Knight, who made 18 saves. “We’re just trying to bring the game that we want to play every night.
“That’s our focus. We want to bring good habits every day.”
The Panthers are likely to rely on starting goalie Sergei Bobrovsky against the Oilers. Bobrovsky is 23-13-2 with a .903 save percentage and 2.65 goals-against average.
Sam Reinhart leads the Panthers in goals (31) and points (63). Aleksander Barkov tops the team with 40 assists, including two on Tuesday.
Playing without Tkachuk is no doubt difficult for Florida. He is the team’s emotional leader, and he is productive with 22 goals and 35 assists. He also leads the team with 11 power-play goals.
However, other Panthers players are stepping up in his absence. Defenseman Gustav Forsling leads the team with a plus-30 plus-minus rating. Fellow defenseman Aaron Ekblad (plus-nine) has also been solid.
Then there’s Carter Verhaeghe, who had the key goal with 6:55 left in the third period as Florida earned a 6-5 road win over Edmonton on Dec. 16. That goal snapped a 5-5 tie in a game that Florida once trailed 4-2.
Skinner and Bobrovsky were the goalies in that game — the most recent Edmonton-Florida matchup.
–Field Level Media
