No one is sure when Connor McDavid will return to the Oilers’ lineup, but it won’t be for Edmonton’s Thursday road game against the San Jose Sharks.
Edmonton’s superstar captain has been out since sustaining a lower-body injury on a check from Winnipeg Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey on March 20.
McDavid returned to practice in a gray non-contact jersey on Tuesday.
“It should be before the regular season ends,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said of McDavid’s return. “I think the most important thing is he’s healthy and 100 percent for the playoffs.”
The Oilers (43-26-5, 91 points) had also been without their other superstar, Leon Draisaitl, before a 3-2 overtime win over the visiting Calgary Flames on Saturday.
Draisaitl certainly made an impact in his return with two goals and an assist. The first goal was his 50th, making him the first NHL player this season to reach that plateau, and the second was the OT winner. He added No. 52 on Tuesday in a 3-2 road win over the Vegas Golden Knights, leaving Draisaitl one short of the 400-goal milestone.
Draisaitl has played in eight of the 11 games that McDavid sat out this season, producing 15 points (eight goals, seven assists). Draisaitl is plus-7 in those contests and has led Edmonton to a 6-2-0 record without its captain.
Defenseman Jake Walman got his first Oilers goal in the win over Vegas. He was acquired from the Sharks on March 6.
San Jose (20-44-10, 50 points) has lost three in a row (0-2-1), most recently taking a 4-3 shootout defeat against the host Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.
Sharks goalie Alexandar Georgiev made 34 saves and impressed his coach in the process.
“It’s probably the best I’ve seen him,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said of Georgiev.
San Jose trailed 3-1 after the first 40 minutes, but defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic got his first goal of the season and Alexander Wennberg scored with 3:14 left to send the game into overtime.
Georgiev made five saves to help kill a 5-on-3 that lasted 1:36 midway through the third period before Wennberg tied it at 3-all.
“We started to take it to them and they didn’t want to skate with us,” said William Eklund, who set up Wennberg’s equalizing goal. “I think we were the better team, but unfortunately we couldn’t get the win.”
The Sharks were outshot by the Ducks 10-3 and trailed 1-0 in the first five minutes of the game.
“We knew it wasn’t a good start, we knew you can’t give up two breakaways in the first five minutes,” Warsofsky said. “It’s kind of inexcusable. You’d have to be living under a rock to not realize what was going on.”
Defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin got the other San Jose goal but left 35 seconds into the third period after being pulled down by Anaheim’s Frank Vatrano, who was assessed a roughing penalty. There was no update regarding Mukhamadullin’s status on Wednesday.
–Field Level Media
