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NASHVILLE, TN – Feelin’ good on Broadway.

Leon Draisaitl continued his dominance of the Nashville Predators on Thursday with two goals and an assist, while centre Noah Philp contributed his first NHL assist and Zach Hyman scored with his first goal of the season in a feel-good 5-1 victory for the Edmonton Oilers at Bridgestone Arena.

Forward Viktor Arvidsson secured his first Oilers goal only 44 seconds into the first period before Philp got on the scoresheet for his first NHL point by helping set up Corey Perry’s go-ahead goal that made it 2-1 for the Blue & Orange midway through the opening frame.

After assisting on his linemate’s opening goal, Draisaitl scored twice over the second and third periods to extend his incredible streak against the Predators to 41 points in his last 16 games versus Nashville, including 25 goals. The German put in a monstrous performance and now leads the Oilers in scoring this season with eight goals and five assists in 11 contests.

Later in the third period, Zach Hyman roofed his first goal of the season on a breakaway past goaltender Juuse Saros with 7:14 left in regulation, ending the winger’s goalless drought at 10 games and rounding out the scoring on a feel-good night for the Blue & Orange on Broadway at improves their overall record to 5-5-1.

The Oilers will look to carry momentum into the Battle of Alberta on Sunday night at Scotiabank Arena in Calgary.

FIRST PERIOD

The Oilers top line of Vasily Podkolzin, Leon Draisaitl and Viktor Arvidsson opened the game with a dominating first shift that ended with each forward touching the puck on Arvidsson’s first goal as an Oiler that arrived only 37 seconds into the contest.

After it looked like the Predators would escape early pressure with a chance to clear the puck along the boards, Podkolzin closed down defenceman Alexandre Carrier with a fast forecheck and turned it loose, getting the puck to Draisaitl before he moved to Arvidsson at the far post to tap in his first goal with the Oilers.

Arvidsson’s first goal for Edmonton was also his first against the team that drafted him in 2014, where he spent the first 385 games of his career before joining Los Angeles three seasons ago. The Swede had ten total shot attempts in the first period and found the net with four of them, finding some strong early chemistry with his linemates to help set the early tone for the Oilers.

After the Oilers failed to score on their first power play, the Predators caught a break on their own man advantage, seeing Brett Kulak’s clearance hit Filip Forberg in front before the forward settled the puck between the hash marks and beat Calvin Pickard with a quick shot at 14:55 of the first period.

The Oilers continued to win battles in the offensive zone, having their fourth line cycle the puck down low on a shift minutes later that led to Noah Philp setting up Drake Caggiula in front for a chance that wound up producing the NHL debutant his first career point.

The 26-year-old centre found his fellow Bakersfield Condors’ call-up Caggiula from below the goal line for a quick one-timer out front that Juuse Saros stopped, but the puck found Corey Perry, who slid home his second goal of the season on the rebound to restore Edmonton’s lead at 2-1 just before the period’s midway mark.

Philp picked up his first NHL point in his first NHL game after returning to the Oilers organization this summer after taking a year away from hockey. Drake Caggiula, playing in his first game with the Oilers since Dec. 29, 2018 – a span of 2,133 days – notched the secondary assist for his 50th career point as an Oiler.

Before the intermission arrived, another NHL first was reached when Ty Emberson dropped the gloves with Cole Emberson for his first career fighting major.

SECOND PERIOD

It’s always Leon’s show on Broadway.

There’s nobody who quite knows how to score goals in Nashville like Leon Draisaitl, who took advantage of a gift from Michael McCarron falling on the blueline to get the chance to skate in on a breakaway and score his 26th career goal in 28 games against the Predators.

With nine minutes gone in the second period, the Nashville forward tripped and coughed up the puck to the German, who barrelled in uncontested on Saros and sniped his seventh goal of the season past the netminder for the 3-1 Oilers lead, notching his first of two goals over what would become another masterclass from No. 29 against Nashville.

The Oilers only had five shots in the second period, but received another steady period in between the pipes from Calvin Pickard, who had 19 saves on 20 shots through 40 minutes after making ten more important saves in the middle frame.

Edmonton was tracking to pick up a point for the 15th time in their last 16 meetings with Nashville, going 12-1-2 over the previous span while looking to make it undefeated in regulation over their last few visits to Bridgestone Arena (6-0-2 in previous seven games).

THIRD PERIOD

While the Draisaitl dominance was set to continue, It was high time for Zach Hyman to get himself off the schneid.

Off a neutral-zone feed from Mattias Ekholm, who picked up an assist to stretch his point streak to five games (2G, 4A), Draisaitl used his body to shield the puck down the right side against Brady Skjei, shrugging off the defenceman and cutting to the inside before sneaking his second goal of the night under the left arm of Saros with his shot for the 4-1 lead just 1:48 into the final frame.

With two goals and an assist, Draisaitl has 27 goals and 19 assists in 28 career games against the Predators, along with 11 goals and 13 assists in his last nine visits to the Bridgestone Arena. The German has 41 points (25G, 16A) in his last 16 games overall versus Nashville.

To keep the good times rolling, Zach Hyman broke through for a breakaway to score his first goal in 11 games this season to lift a big weight off his shoulders.

Darnell Nurse found Hyman streaking through the neutral zone with a break-away pass that the 32-year-old roofed over the left shoulder of Saros to make it 5-1 for the Oilers with over six minutes left in regulation, completing the scoring on another terrific night for the Oilers on Broadway.

The Oilers get back to a .500 win percentage (5-5-1) heading into Sunday’s Battle of Alberta at Scotiabank Saddledome against the Calgary Flames – the first of back-to-back games for Edmonton that will wrap up Monday when the New Jersey Devils visit Rogers Place.