In the past week, the Edmonton Oilers have lost two of the most dynamic offensive players in hockey due to injuries. Connor McDavid sustained a lower-body injury during the second period of a 4-3 overtime defeat to the Winnipeg Jets on March 20, while Leon Draisaitl picked up an undisclosed injury in a 7-1 victory over the Utah Hockey Club on March 18. With 12 games remaining, the Oilers are tied with the Los Angeles Kings for second place in the Pacific Division. Head coach Kris Knoblauch confirmed on Tuesday that neither player is expected to return in the near future.
“They’re going to be still a while,” Knoblauch said to NHL.com after practice. “We’ll be playing a couple of games without them, at least. It’s good for those other guys that they know they’re going to get some more playing time.”
Saturday marked the first time since McDavid’s rookie season in 2015-16 that both Draisaitl and McDavid were sidelined due to injury in the same game. This season, the two stars are ranked second and fourth in NHL scoring, with Draisaitl accumulating 101 points (49 goals, 52 assists) in 68 games and McDavid recording 90 points (26 goals, 64 assists) in 63 games. Draisaitl’s impressive 18-game point streak (27 points; 14 goals, 13 assists) ended during the win against Utah, where he led all forwards with 22:23 of ice time.
“I think everybody feels it,” said forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who had a hat trick Saturday. “I think it’s a chance for everybody to step up and play their game and maybe play a little bit of a different role for certain guys. Obviously, you lose two of the best players in the game, we need to step up and we need to make sure that we’re sharp. “I think the way we’ve been playing lately is starting to get to the way we want to be playing come playoff time — making it tough to play against, not giving anything easy to the other team and building our offense from playing solid defensively.”
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