The Edmonton Oilers’ hopes of returning to the Stanley Cup final for the third consecutive year were thrown into flux on Tuesday.
The Oilers announced that Leon Draisaitl is expected to miss the rest of the regular season with a lower-body injury. The team said he sustained the injury on Sunday in the first period against the Nashville Predators.
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He will miss at least the final 14 games of the regular season, which comes to an end on April 16. The team didn’t say whether he will miss time once the playoffs begin.
Draisaitl took a bump from Predators’ Ozzy Wiesblatt and didn’t return. Edmonton ended up winning the game and sat in third place in the Pacific Division, one point back of the Vegas Golden Knights and two behind the Anaheim Ducks.
Edmonton was able to end Tuesday on a high note with a victory over the San Jose Sharks, 5-3. The victory bumped the Oilers to second place behind Anaheim and ahead of Vegas. However, the Oilers have played one more game than the Golden Knights and two more games than the Ducks.
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Adam Henrique assisted on goals for Vasily Podkolzin and Max Jones. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor Murphy and Zach Hyman also scored.
“That line was huge for us, and we talked before about needing guys stepping up,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said after the win over the Sharks, via NHL.com. “No one’s going to replace Leon. That’s never going to happen. But everyone collectively needs to be a little bit better. That fourth line, all three of them, were the difference tonight.”
Draisaitl has been a major contributor for the Oilers since he joined the team. He ranks fourth in the league in scoring with 97 points in 65 games played, second on the team to Connor McDavid, who leads the league with 114 points.
Draisaitl won the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP in 2020 and was the runner-up last season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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