Leon Draisaitl has been fined $5,000 for a “dangerous trip” on New York Islanders’ forward Bo Horvat during the Edmonton Oilers’ 4-1 victory Monday night.
At roughly the halfway mark of the second period, Draisaitl was fighting for the puck along the boards. A split second before the play in question, he was knocked over during the board battle and turned toward Horvat, who was facing the opposite direction and did not have the puck. At that point, the Oilers star forward decided to give a nasty hack to the back of Horvat’s knees, causing him to fall over. It was clearly an illegal play and would be considered a “slew foot.”
The Oilers won the game, their second win in as many games. Draisaitl was the star of the show as he put up four points. For once, the Oilers got solid goaltending as Stuart Skinner turned away 32 of the 33 shots he faced. The team has improved to 4-9-1, but still has a long way to go if they intend on making the playoffs this year.
Rumors continue to swirl around the team concerning the immediate and long-term futures of Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. At this juncture, all that the Oilers want is to put together a nice winning streak and hopefully get the season back on track. The season is still young, with 68 games left, and if they win roughly 40 of those they’ll be good enough to make the postseason. That’s a tall ask but if there’s anyone that can do it it will be McDavid and Draisaitl.
Draisaitl has six goals and 19 points in 14 games as the Oilers scoring leader, which puts him on track for 111 points over an 82 games. That would be his second-highest scoring total of his career, behind only last year when he scored 128 points.
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