Draisaitl scores before leaving with injury in Oilers win against Predators

EDMONTON -- Leon Draisaitl scored before leaving with an undisclosed injury after the first period for the Edmonton Oilers, who defeated the Nashville Predators 3-1 at Rogers Place on Sunday.

Draisaitl made it 1-0 with a power-play goal at 3:12 of the first. He took a cross-ice pass from Connor McDavid and scored with a wrist shot from the right circle that went through the legs of both Predators forward Zachary L'Heureux and goalie Justus Annunen.

A little more than a minute later, though, Draisaitl left the ice after taking a hit into the boards from Predators forward Ozzy Wiesblatt. Draisaitl would come back out for two more shifts later in the period, but he didn’t return to the bench for the start of the second.

“He didn’t feel right. He went off, he got checked out, felt like he could play on it,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “The medical staff looked at him and they were comfortable with him trying it out. He went out and he just didn’t feel quite right. The fact that the medical staff said it doesn’t seem too bad and there’s no immediate red flags, it tells me that it shouldn’t be a really long injury. There might be some time off, but we’ll find out later.”

McDavid had three assists, and Matt Savoie and Zach Hyman scored for the Oilers (33-26-9), who had lost two in a row (0-1-1). Connor Ingram made 26 saves.

“I felt good. I felt good in St Louis, too,” said Ingram, who made 22 saves in a 3-2 overtime loss at the St. Louis Blues on Friday. “We found a way to hold onto this one.

“Having your coach behind you is huge, but at the end of the day, my job never changes. I’m going to come in and be the same person I’ve been for the last three or four months. It’s exciting for me (to be the No. 1), but at the end of the day, like I’ve said a thousand times, it’s just stopping pucks. It’s the same thing every day.”

Fedor Svechkov scored for the Predators (29-28-9), who are 1-2-1 on a five-game road trip that will conclude at the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday. Annunen made 27 saves.

“I liked our game. Even from the start we knew they’d be a desperate team, and I thought we handled ourselves pretty well,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “Obviously, we gave up the PK goal a little bit early, but I thought it was a battle out there. They’re a good hockey team.

“The power play didn’t connect, it kind of let us down here a little bit tonight (0-for-4), and we hit a crossbar and a post in the game. Another one of those games we’ve been in the middle of, we just didn’t get on the right end of it.”

Savoie pushed the lead to 2-0 at 2:32 of the second period, taking a pass from McDavid on a 2-on-1 rush and lifting the puck high over Annunen's glove as he slid across the crease.

“I just busted as hard as I can and tried to give him an option,” Savoie said. “He did a good job kind of selling the shot and sliding it over to a pretty open net.

“This is the most important time of the season. I think the fire in here is there and is just continuing to grow and we’re continuing to find our game.”

Svechkov cut it to 2-1 at 4:52 of the third period with a shot from the high slot that deflected off the stick of Oilers forward Jack Roslovic and fluttered past Ingram's glove.

“I think we had a slow start and then got a little momentum, a lot of power play and PK in a game where you’ve got to use your chances,” Svechkov said. “... I think that was the key to it, probably.

“We had a very good third and should have scored more than one but didn’t get lucky at times.”

Hyman scored into an empty net with 1:07 remaining for the 3-1 final. The goal came moments after Steven Stamkos hit the post on a one-timer for the Predators.

“We're at a point in the season where we don't have a choice,” Hyman said of hanging on for the win. “We have to play well, we have to win games, we have to close games out, we have to play strong defensively. We did all those things. It was a good team effort from our goalie all the way out.”

NOTES: McDavid remained two goals away from 400 in the NHL. ... Drasiaitl's goal was his 35th of the season and pushed his point streak to nine games (six goals, 11 assists).