Leon Draisaitl ties Wayne Gretzky on the Oilers all-time list during a loss to the Capitals

Although it is The Edmonton Oilers were unable to slow down the league-leading Washington Capitals on home ice Tuesday night, it wasn’t for the effort Leon Draisaitl‘s part. The German superstar scored the first goal of the game and added an assist in the 3-2 loss, extending his point streak to seven games (five goals, seven assists).

His 34th NHL goal of the 2024-25 season was also his 25th career goal in the first five minutes of the game, adding to his name to some elite company.

“Leon Draisaitl scored his 29th career goal in the first 5:00 of the game, past Connor McDavid (28) to tie the game Wayne Gretzky for second place on the franchise’s all-time list, topped by Mark Messier (30),” NHL public relations wrote.

Draisaitl became the third player to reach the 70-point mark this season and is just three points behind Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon for the league lead. The sniper put the Oilers ahead just over three minutes into the opening frame; Draisaitl won a draw in the offensive zone before taking a pass from Darnell Nurse and firing the puck up and over goaltender Logan Thompson.

It was a great start for Edmonton, but Washington pushed back almost immediately afterwards. Tom Wilson tied the score six minutes later, and Matt Roy’s tally midway through the second period gave the Capitals the lead.

Pierre-Luc Dubois would make it 3-1 early in the third, and even though Corey Perry scored for the comeback, that’s as close as the Oil would get on Tuesday night.

The Oilers can’t stop the Capitals’ winning streak

The Capitals have now won five straight, improving to 32-10-5 and sitting a full five points ahead of the second-place Winnipeg Jets in the President’s Trophy race. Edmonton is 29-15-3 after two straight losses following a four-game winning streak.

“I think it’s one of our better games we’ve played defensively,” Oilers head coach Chris Knoblauch said afterward, per NHL.com’s Gerry Moddejonge. “I don’t think we gave up much, a couple in a hurry, yeah.” We’re never going to play a perfect game, the other team will get chances to score, but I don’t think there were many tonight.”

It was the first game without Edmonton McDavid, who is serving a three-game suspension to cross-check Vancouver Canucks forward Connor Garland’s face in the waning seconds of Saturday night’s 3-2 loss.

“We’re a pretty good team here, we’ve got a lot of good players,” Perry said of Moddejong. “He came out earlier in the year and we took care of business. You can’t fill his spot, but you can adapt, and I think the guys have done that.”

Before the losing streak, the Oilers were on a tear, winning 11 of 14 games between December 19th and January 16th. Tuesday against the Capitals is the first of a six-game homestand.

Knoblauch’s group will welcome the Canucks, Buffalo Sabres, Seattle Kraken, Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs to Rogers Place between now and the first day of February.