Oilers swamp Nashville, 6-1

In Nashville, the visiting Edmonton Oilers took out their early season frustrations on the Predators with a 6-1 shellacking on Tuesday night.

The Oilers scored fur times in the first period.

“I really liked our will and our effort,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “It just has to be a little smarter and a little bit of understanding in parts of the game where you really have to make sure we take care of business in certain areas and we didn’t. They made us pay.”

Leon Draisaitl opened the offense with a power play goal at 8:11 of the first.

“Obviously two incredible players that have done a lot for this organization,” Draisaitl said. “To be a part of that list is very special. This is obviously as much of a tribute to my teammates as it is to me. I’m well aware of how smart of hockey players I have around me. I’m very fortunate to be, I guess, on the receiving end of it.”

Jack Campbell made 41 saves in the win.

“Obviously not the start we wanted to the season, but I thought tonight was another good step,” Draisaitl said. “Clean up a couple things for sure, but all in all, we played a solid game.”

That opened the flood gates with Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Connor McDavid scoring for the big lead.

“[Draisaitl] scores against every team, it’s not just Nashville,” Hyman said. “We were joking around with him, but obviously he’s had tremendous success against these guys for whatever reason. He’s a pretty good player.”

Tommy Novak scored for the Predators at 2:08 of the second on the power play to get Nashville on the board at 4-1.

“We actually came out pretty good,” Nashville captain Roman Josi said. “I thought the first 10 minutes started well, played fast. We talk about not giving them power plays, I took a penalty there, which I shouldn’t take. They’re just so dangerous on the power play. They scored and I felt like we got a little bit away from our game after that.”

Draisaitl hit for a double at 7:53 of the second for a 5-1 lead.

“It’s always difficult getting traded or signing somewhere else, especially where you really enjoy the city,” Campbell said. “I know it was a big day for [Ekholm], a lot of nerves I’m sure just from dealing with it with my past. So, seeing him come out and play the game that he always plays for us, which is just a steady, big-time presence on the back end but also jumping up and making the offensive plays he makes, every single guy in the room was playing hard for him tonight.”

Warren Foegele scored at 15:27 of the middle frame for the 6-1 final score.