EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — The Edmonton Oilers got a boost Monday night in the opener of their first-round playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks when Leon Draisaitl returned to the lineup.
Draisaitl assisted on both of Kasperi Kapanen's goals in a 4-3 victory, including the winner with 1:54 left in the third period.
The 30-year-old German star missed the final 14 games of the regular season with a knee injury. He was activated from the long-term injured
list before Monday’s game.
“I felt OK,” Draisaitl said. “It’s certainly going to take a couple of games to really be myself and really trust myself again. But for a start, I thought it was OK.”
Draisaitl skated with the team over the past week.
Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch predicted the forward would return some time during the first round, but had been coy about when.
“Now that it’s playoffs, it’s a little more sacred about what our lineups are going to be,” Knoblauch said Monday morning. “We’re not going to announce who’s playing and what our lines are going to be exactly.”
Draisaitl has 143 points in 97 career playoff games. He became the 12th player born outside North America to compile 90 playoff assists — his second of the game was his 91st — and Draisaitl was the fastest in that group to reach the mark. Jari Kurri did it in 117 games.
“When you get someone like Leon Draisaitl back in the lineup and you get to play with him, good things usually happen,” Kapanen said.
Edmonton went 8-4-2 without Draisaitl to close the season and finished second in the Pacific Division, earning home-ice advantage for the series against Anaheim.
Draisaitl had 35 goals and 62 assists in 65 games this season, just missing a fifth straight 100-point campaign.
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
