Letestu powers up Oilers’ scoring
Vet on fire with man-advantage
Mark Letestu, the fourth-line Edmonton Oilers centre and first-unit shooter on the power play, has more points than Connor McDavid in these playoffs.
Of course, McDavid has been wearing Ryan Kesler like a cheap suit every game, but that doesn’t change the fact Letestu was sitting in a four-way tie for seventh in playoff scoring before Monday’s Pittsburgh Penguins-Washington Capitals game. Including his four-point night in Game 6, Letestu has 11 points in 12 games.
Letestu, who had a careerhigh 16 goals and 35 points in the regular season, including 11 power-play goals, hasn’t slowed down in the post-season. His two goals and two assists in the Oilers’ 7-1 pounding of the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday gives him five goals and six assists. As of Monday, only Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel and rookie Jake Guentzel, Oilers teammate Leon Draisaitl and Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf had more.
On five-on-three late in Game 6 with the win well in hand, his Oilers teammates kept feeding him to see if he could get the hat trick. He’s never had one of those, in the regular season or playoffs.
“I’d love to have got the third one. I heard hat sales went up after Leon’s. They tossed them all and they had to reload,” Letestu joked.
Letestu found his way to the top power-play unit early in the season, ostensibly to win faceoffs as a righty, but the Oilers also liked his one-timer and ability to find open space.
“It didn’t come with a lot of fanfare that I was put there, but I wanted to prove I belonged,” the 32-year-old from Elk Point, Alta., said.
“I wanted to prove I could contribute. I knew I could shoot the puck well and the other guys are such good passers. It’s turned into something.”
No kidding. He has four power-play goals this spring after the 11 in the regular season. He’s tied with Kessel and Sean Monahan for the playoff high. His eight power-play points in the playoffs led the league as of Monday.
Oilers head coach Todd McLellan said Letestu is comfortable enough in his own skin as a role player to play with bigger guns.
“Just because we play him in the four-hole or the three-hole (centre spot), his skill level is way underestimated — not by us, but by other people,” McLellan said. “It’s interesting when your top players want to play with a certain player — it’s telling you volumes what they think of him as well.”
His shot comes off his stick hard, from high in the slot. He’s got a shooter’s instinct.
“When we put him on the power play back in October or November,” McLellan said, “we didn’t have a triggerman. We knew in the past he could (be that). He finds open spaces.”