NHL pro Leon Draisaitl goes into the first playoff duel with the Los Angeles Kings with great self-confidence.
“What makes me confident is our team and the fact that we’re here. The top 16 teams are going into the playoffs and we’re one of them,” said the Edmonton Oilers attacker before game one in the German night on Tuesday (April 4). :00 a.m. / Sky) in a round with German journalists.
“In the last two months, if I’m not mistaken, we’ve been in the top three teams in the whole league and played very, very good ice hockey,” said the 26-year-old from Cologne.
“It will be an exciting long series that will demand a lot from both teams. Nevertheless, I like our chances,” said Draisaitl. Edmonton, as the second-best team in the Pacific Division, has home field advantage against the Kings. The team, with former national coach Marco Sturm on the coaching staff, finished third and has to start with two away games in Edmonton. Whoever gets four wins first will advance to the second round of the playoffs.
Since Draisaitl has been with the Oilers, the long-established Canadian team has not had a good playoff period and has never progressed past the second round, although he and Connor McDavid are the two best players in the league according to some experts. But there is no increased unrest in the city.
“I think there’s always a bit of pressure in a Canadian city to be successful. We’ve had that for years,” said Draisaitl. “I think the fans here in the 80s were also very spoiled with success. But there’s nobody who wants that more than us players. We know who we’re playing for here and we want to be the team that bring back those times.”