The Edmonton Oilers will be without both halves of their dynamic duo when they play host to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
Coach Kris Knoblauch said on Friday that both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl will not be available when the club is back in action after suffering a 4-3 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.
Draisaitl did not play against the Jets after being on the receiving end of a knee-on-knee hit in Edmonton’s previous outing, and McDavid left late in the second period due to a lower-body injury.
“I’d say day-to-day, maybe a week,” Knoblauch replied when asked on Friday how long the Oilers may be without their captain.
As for Draisaitl’s timeline, Knoblauch said: “He won’t be back immediately. He’ll be probably up to a week.”
The good news for Edmonton is that No. 1 goaltender Stuart Skinner is OK after he was pulled from the game by the league’s concussion spotter with five minutes remaining in regulation time and did not return.
The Oilers (40-24-5, 85 points) sit second in the Pacific Division, three points behind the Vegas Golden Knights and two points ahead of the hard-charging Los Angeles Kings, and must find a way to keep earning points without their offensive leaders.
“Go out there and play hard and keep it simple,” forward Zach Hyman said. “You’re missing two guys who make those kind of special plays, and I think if they’re not in the lineup, simplify your game. You can play a pretty simple and direct game, get to the net and just keep things easy, and I think we’re a team that’s capable of doing that.”
The Kraken (30-35-5, 65 points) will look to rebound after suffering a 4-0 road loss to the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday, which ended a run of points in four consecutive games.
Seattle trailed 3-0 before the five-minute mark after surrendering a trio of goals in a 1:42 span that could hardly be pinned on goaltender Philipp Grubauer.
“It’s uncharacteristic of our team as of late,” coach Dany Bylsma said. “Grubi made a couple of other big saves to keep it at three, but just too many early opportunities for them. … It was a competitive match the rest of the way, we just couldn’t find a goal to claw back into the game.”
It marks the seventh time this season Seattle has been blanked in what has been a disappointing campaign. The Kraken had high hopes of returning to the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season but are all but officially eliminated, sitting 12 points out of a playoff position with one dozen games remaining.
The motivation will be to keep playing for pride and, in the case of Saturday’s clash, trying to play spoiler. However, limping out of the blocks like they did in Minnesota will mean more one-sided losses for the Kraken, and they know it.
“We’ve got to be sharp every night,” forward Jaden Schwartz said. “Teams are fighting for a lot right now. They’re very important games … We’ll get a practice in, which we haven’t got a lot of practice lately. So sharpen up a little bit there, look at some stuff, keep building here.”
Seattle forward Chandler Stephenson left the game in the second period due to an undisclosed injury. There was no update on Friday regarding his status for the clash.
–Field Level Media
