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| 8-4-0, 16 points, 1.333 p/g | Ranks | 5-8-0, 10 points, .769 p/g |
| Eastern Conference - 5th | Western Conference - 11th | |
| 7th | P/G | 24th |
| 13th | ST | 12th |
| 8th | S/G | 25th |
| 3rd | Goal | 28th |
A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Taylor Hall had three points (1-2-3) en route to an Oilers victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night, but that victory came at an enormous price. Connor McDavid will be out of the lineup for the next "several months" as he recovers from clavicle surgery after he crashed into the boards awkwardly with less than two minutes remaining in the second period. To say the loss of McDavid (5-7-12) is a big deal is kind of an understatement. The return of Jordan Eberle off injured reserve will look to provide some spark, but there's no doubt that the loss of McDavid will leave a sizable hole in this team's lineup.
Let's go to the tape.
The Oilers are saying
"He's a guy that was really coming on for us. Personally, and as a team, we were really feeling him in our lineup and it was just bad timing all around. He's a guy that's going to fight through it and he's going to come back strong, but that doesn't negate the fact that we're going to be without a great player and a great kid for a long time."
That's Oilers forward Taylor Hall on losing Connor McDavid for the next few months.
The sky's not falling, but let's just say that the clouds got four feet closer to everyone. The Oilers will miss Connor McDavid immeasurably.
The opponents are saying
"My job when I play with (Malkin and Kessel) is to get in on the forecheck, work hard and get pucks back to them"
Source
- SEASON DEBUT - Jordan Eberle will make his season debut after missing the first month with a shoulder injury. He'll be on the top line with Taylor Hall and...
- Leon Draisaitl will centre Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will see second line duties with Nail Yakupov and Benoit Pouliot. I miss the 97-10 connection already. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is a great player, but 97-10 was a lot of fun to watch.
- Look for
Cam Talbot (3-6, .897 SV% / 2.88 GAA)Anders Nilsson (2-2-0, .903 SV% / 3.38 GAA) to get the nod tonight, withMarc-Andre Fleury (7-4, .939 SV% / 1.74 GAA / 2 SO) Jeff Zatkoff (1-0-0, .943 SV% / 3.00 GAA) to get the first game of a Pittsburgh back-to-back - Griffin Reinhart and Eric Gryba are a pair again. I got a funny feeling about all that.
- For the Oilers, Connor McDavid (deep heavy sigh, clavicle), Justin Schultz (back) and Rob Klinkhammer (lower body) are out of the lineup. For Pittsburgh, forward Bryan Rust (undisclosed) is out indefinitely.