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Leon Draisaitl Makes Biggest Mistake of His Career: May Lead to the End of the Oilers' Cup Run

Originally posted on House of Hockey | By Julien Trekker | Last updated May 11, 2025 10:42 AM ET

The Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl possibly made the biggest mistake of his career last night, which could lead to the end of his team's playoff run.

Year after year, it's 'cup or bust' season for Edmonton, and it seems pressure could be starting to get the best of the Oilers' leaders.

While Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid have been the best players in Edmonton for many years, Draisaitl made a massive mistake last night that cost his team the win.

Indeed, the German forward deflected the puck into his own net with less than a second to go in the third period of the third game against the Vegas Golden Knights.

If you missed it, here's how it went down:

After the game, he shared comments on the incident:

'We didn't sort it out very well, to let the puck get into the slot. After that, it's just unlucky. It's unfortunate. It goes off my stick.'
'I'm just trying to keep it out of the net, obviously. It's just a bad bounce.'

Even though the Oilers are still leading the series 2-1, this win could be crucial for the rest of the round. If the Golden Knights manage to tie it tomorrow, we'll get a clean start at 2 wins each.

This marked Stuart Skinner's return following the injury to Calvin Pickard. Skinner has been struggling in the playoffs, with a .817 save percentage and 5.36 goals against average in three games. In fact, he hasn't been able to help his team win in the playoffs since last season.

Here's what he said after the loss:

'That's a goalie's job, just to give your team a chance to win every night. I thought I did. Just a couple tough bounces here and there. We had a good bounce that kind of went off a skate and went in. Those types of things happen. I was happy that I was able to make a couple of big saves when we needed it, but I wasn't able to finish it out.'

The fourth game between Vegas and Edmonton is set to go down tomorrow night, in Vegas.

This article first appeared on House of Hockey and was syndicated with permission.

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