BUFFALO — A weird finish that amounted to a shootout loss overshadowed their work, but the reunited trio of Leon Draisaitl, Ryan McLeod and Warren Foegele proved they’re back.
They accounted for both Oilers goals — one at five-on-five and one short-handed — in a 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, picking up right where they left off after having so much success earlier in the season.
Even amid bringing in veteran Adam Henrique, Foegele and McLeod continue to make a case they should be playing with the 2020 Hart and Art Ross Trophy winner for the foreseeable future.
“Any chance you get to play with the second- or third-best player in the world is a huge opportunity. I’m grateful,” Foegele said. “I know we’ve got one superstar (in Connor McDavid), but we’ve got another really good one, too.
“He’s a hell of a player. He’s a massive leader for this club. And he probably deserves to get more talk about him.”
The Draisaitl-McLeod-Foegele led the way against the Sabres in a game where the Oilers started strong but couldn’t find an extra gear to put their opponent away.
They scored on a beautiful, three-way passing play 29 seconds into the game. Foegele found Draisaitl in the slot before the German centre dished to McLeod on a behind-the-back feed. McLeod, off to the side of the net, scored just found a goal on Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Ryan McLeod strikes early off the sick dish from Leon Draisaitl 🌩️ pic.twitter.com/OT5MoWJheJ
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 9, 2024
That line excelled from the moment they were thrown together for the third period in a Dec. 21 contest in New Jersey — a comeback victory that sparked their 16-game winning streak — through Jan. 13. McLeod and Foegele were tied for second on the team in five-on-five scoring with nine points in as many games during that period. Draisaitl was just behind with seven points.
But McLeod was sick and didn’t play in Montreal that January night, and the trio hadn’t really been used again until Saturday — just 1:10 total over a span of 21 games, per Natural Stat Trick.
Kris Knoblauch looked like a genius for putting them back together again. They pushed the play. The Oilers outshot the Sabres 7-2 in 12 minutes with them on the ice.
“They looked pretty good,” veteran winger Corey Perry said with a chuckle. “Leo had the puck on a string. The other two guys made some good plays. They can both skate. They can both check. That opens up a lot of ice for Leo — and he can make plays on his backhand.”
It wasn’t just the solid five-on-five play from Draisaitl’s old-turned-new wingers, either.
Foegele made a heady play to strip a puck from Sabres winger Jeff Skinner at the Edmonton blue line with the Oilers short-handed. That led to a two-on-zero breakaway with McLeod, which Foegele finished off after a pass from his buddy.
Getting two points served as sweet redemption for Foegele.
One of the Oilers’ better forwards all season, Foegele was the subject of trade rumours heading into Friday because he’s a pending free agent and his $2.75 million cap hit could have opened space to facilitate a bigger deal.
He made it clear he didn’t want to leave Edmonton.
The final game before the deadline in Columbus was one of Foegele’s worst this campaign. An awful giveaway, which led to the third Blue Jackets goal moments later, was the low light. The Oilers went down 3-0 and never got back to level terms in a 4-2.
Foegele made amends in a big way on Saturday.
“It would have been better to get the win. But I wasn’t happy with last game, and I tried to put my (best) foot forward,” he said. “Personally, it’s a little less stressful today than it was for the past week.”
The chemistry these three players have shown yet again, coupled with the dominance of Connor McDavid, Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as a trio — Saturday aside — should give Knoblauch the confidence to stick with those top two groupings.
That leaves Henrique centring Perry and Evander Kane as was the case against the Sabres. They can form a steady, veteran line once they work out the kinks.
“We’re deep — and that’s a good sign,” Perry said.
The Oilers ultimately let the Draisaitl-McLeod-Foegele effort go to waste.
The Sabres pulled within a goal 76 seconds after Foegele put them up 2-0 when Tage Thompson scored on the same Buffalo power play.
“That gave them some life,” Foegele said. “In the third, we weren’t as aggressive.”
Sabres defenceman Jacob Bryson found the equalizer at 11:39 of that period.
The Oilers had their chances but couldn’t get that elusive third goal to either pad or re-establish their lead — a rarity for them.
“Hopefully, it’s just a one-off,” Perry said.
The tying goal pushed the game into overtime, which created an odd scene — and major chaos.
Sabres blueliner Owen Power scored what appeared to be the winning goal with two seconds left in the extra frame. The home team celebrated; the visitors hung their heads and retreated down the tunnel.
Only the coaches and defenceman Cody Ceci initially stayed put on the Oilers bench just in case the play was offside, although even assistant coach Glen Gulutzan felt there was nothing untoward about the goal.
The Oilers didn’t have to issue a challenge because the league automatically reviews overtime markers. It was assistant equipment manager Brad Harrison who rushed into the Oilers dressing room to alert the troops that there was a review.
Stuart Skinner had the top half of his equipment off and his pads lying on the dressing room floor. Mattias Ekholm was down to his skates.
“Some guys were right down to their gitch,” Perry said, laughing. “They had to get dressed again.”
“It was bizarre,” Draisaitl said. “Lots of guys were pretty close to being in the shower.”
Gear was spread around the room. The players scrambled as fast as they would in minor hockey on those games where you were running late.
“Pretty much,” Perry said. “Guys were looking for sticks and jerseys. Everything was all over the place.”
In the end, it didn’t matter that they got a second chance. The Oilers held on for the last 20.1 seconds of overtime — the time that was put back on the clock — and lost in a shootout.
It just wasn’t their afternoon.
But at least they rediscovered something good in the Draisaitl-McLeod-Foegele line.
“We connected a lot,” Draisaitl said. “We had a lot of good looks. It was good. It was fun.”
