Connor McDavid was a game-time decision for the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night as they faced elimination in Game 5 against the Anaheim Ducks, and the captain was not on the ice for the morning skate. Coach Kris Knoblouch said McDavid’s status would be determined later in the day after Edmonton went into the matchup trailing 3-1 in the best-of-seven first-round series.
Jason Dickinson also missed the morning workout and was a game-time call after sitting out Games 2 and 3 with a lower-body injury before returning for Game 4. Edmonton needed every available body because McDavid was not the only player working through trouble, and Knoblouch said that when someone is missing, someone else has to step up.
McDavid’s status carried extra weight because he remains Edmonton’s best driver of offense. He had one goal and three assists in four playoff games after a regular season that produced 48 goals and 138 points in 81 games. He had also been nominated Tuesday for the Ted Lindsay Award, a reminder of how much the Oilers have leaned on him even as the stakes rose in the nhl games tonight spotlight.
The captain’s condition has been a concern for more than a week. In Game 2, McDavid had an awkward collision with teammate Mattias Ekholm and briefly went to the dressing room with a lower-body issue before returning to finish with more than 24 minutes of ice time. He then skipped practice before Game 4 on Sunday and still played 19:32 in Edmonton’s 4-3 overtime loss.
Edmonton entered Tuesday trying to avoid a first-round exit for the first time since the COVID-19 shortened 2020-21 campaign. The club had reached the Stanley Cup Final in each of the previous two seasons, only to lose both times to the Florida Panthers, and another early departure would land hard for a group that expected a deeper run.
Knoblouch said injuries were affecting how the Oilers were playing, but he also pushed back on the idea that the roster had already shown its ceiling. He said the team had some players who were banged up, that healthy skaters had to pick up the slack, and that he did not think Edmonton had yet shown the best of its group even with several players below 100 percent.
The concern for Edmonton was not limited to availability. The Oilers were allowing the most goals against in the postseason at five per game, had a 50% penalty kill and were giving up more than 33 shots against per game. Connor Ingram had a.849 save percentage, and after going with backup Tristan Jarry in Game 4, Edmonton was handing the reins back to Ingram for Game 5.
That left the Oilers with the kind of question that decides a spring series: whether a star who has powered them all season can go, and whether the rest of the lineup can do enough if he cannot. By the time the puck dropped, the answer would shape not just the night, but whether Edmonton stayed alive at all.
