Leon Draisaitl takes sly digs at media during Oilers-Canucks post-game interview

By Abhishek Dilta

Modified May 21, 2024 12:00 GMT

Leon Draisaitl made an interesting comment during his post-game interview after the Oilers' Round 2 win over the Canucks on Monday night. The reporter asked Draisaitl about the contributions from players outside the core group, mentioning goals from the third line and the performance of the second and third defensive pairings.

With a determined look in his eyes, Leon Draisaitl took a subtle jab at the media, acknowledging that going deep into the playoffs requires contributions from everyone on the team, not just the star players.

He reckoned that there are many unnoticed aspects of the game that the media might not always recognize, but the team certainly does:

"Yeah, you need that. If you want to go deep into the playoffs, and you know, a lot of times it's not so much on the score sheet, right? It's a lot of little things that guys are doing that aren't getting recognized by you guys," - Draisaitl said after the game.

"For a team, you know, there's a lot of little things that a lot of people might not, you know, see in a game, but we certainly recognize it and we appreciate it and you need everybody."

During the press conference, there was another moment when Draisaitl didn't seem too thrilled with the media. The frustration radiating from his face was visible when he was asked about the Oilers' previous conference final series against the Colorado Avalanche, where they couldn't achieve success.

In response, Draisaitl said:

"I think some of the games that we played against Colorado in that series, you know, could have went the other way too, but, you know, who cares, I guess?"

"But, definitely, over the years, you mature and you are in these situations and you learn from those situations, and you know, obviously, we're looking to give it another shot and, you know, be more successful than last time."

Draisaitl leads the post-season with 24 points accumulated through eight goals and 16 assists in 12 games.

Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers advance to Western Conference final

On Monday night, the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 in Game 7 to clinch the Western Conference Round 2 series at Rogers Arena.

Cody Ceci opened the scoring for the Oilers at 1:16 of the first period after scoring from the right point. Just over four minutes later, Zach Hyman made it 2-0 for the Oilers after a deflected shot off Evan Bouchard beat Arturs Silvos in the net.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins extended the lead to 3-0 before heading into the second period. After a goalless second period, the Canucks fought back, with Connor Garland and Filip Hronek cutting the deficit to 3-2, but ultimately fell short of equalizing at the end.

Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers face the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference final. Game 1 takes place on Thursday.