Leon Draisaitl hits Edmonton with blunt reality check after Flames loss

The Edmonton Oilers suffered its third straight loss, falling 4-3 to the Calgary Flames in the “Battle of Alberta” at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Wednesday, starts the Olympic break.

Scoring two goals with the man advantage, Leon Draisaitl it was all work putting the team on blast for sloppy defense and streaky performance.

“We’re giving up too many goals,” noted an exhausted Draisaitl. “We can’t defend. The penalty isn’t great. There’s a lot of things that go into it. It’s just not good enough right now.

“We’ve got to defend better. We’ve got to make it easier for him (Tristan Gerry), and then I’m sure he can be a little bit better, too. It’s a two-way street, but it starts with us in front of him, and then it becomes a little bit easier for him. But I think there are saves that our goalies have to make at some point.”

Jerry allowed four goals on 25 shots for an .840 save percentage, dropping his second straight game.

Edmonton was undone by poor goaltending, poor penalty killing and giveaways, relying on the power play for every offense. The team’s ongoing issues remain unresolved, which is a concern this late in the season.

“Absolutely,” Draisaitl said. “We’re not consistent enough. This league is too tough to grind through games and try to keep a winning streak going. You need everybody. It starts with the coach. Everybody.”

“You’re never going to win if you have four or five guys. It starts at the top. We can be better, our leaders can be better. We’ll take a break and regroup.”

Draisaitl is under no illusions that past playoff success will automatically turn this team into a contender again.

“We’re a different team,” he said. “We’re not the same team. We’re not that good right now. We’re not even close. We’ve got to figure it out. It’s time. It’s a break now, but when we come back, we’ve got to go.”

Jonathan Huberdeau scored on the power play at 3:12 of the first period to give Calgary the lead, only for Draisaitl to tie the game at 1-1 with a goal at 5:14. The Flames regained the lead with another man-advantage goal by rookie Matvei Gridin, and Conor Zari made it 3-1 in the second period. Draisaitl’s second power-play goal made it 3-2 before the third period, with Kasperi Kapanen tying the game at 3-3 at 4:17. However, Ryan Lomberg scored 2:27 later on a lucky rebound to give Calgary a 4-3 lead. Flames goaltender Devin Cooley finished with 36 saves, including 27 over the final two periods.

Although Draisaitl was not on the winning side, he still added milestones to his career. His two-game hitting streak led him to 29 goals in a season and 1,035 career points, passing Mark Messier for fourth on the Oilers’ all-time scoring list. He also scored in six straight games against Calgary (8G, 5A), becoming the sixth player in franchise history to reach 70 points in a Battle of Alberta, joining Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kury, Messier, Glenn Anderson and Paul Coffey. Evan Bouchard contributed with three assists, surpassing 300 points in his career.

Edmonton finishes the pre-Olympics 28-22-8, allowing 34 goals in its last seven games and losing two more than it has won this season. The Oilers will resume NHL action on Feb. 25 with a three-game road trip to California, starting with the Anaheim Ducks, followed by the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks, before returning home on March 3 to face the Ottawa Senators before the March 6 trade deadline.