McDavid's Return and Impact on Oilers' Game Against Golden Knights

McDavid's Comeback

EDMONTON - Connor McDavid was held pointless in his first game back with the Edmonton Oilers since sustaining an ankle injury on Oct. 28.

McDavid returned in a 4-2 loss against the Vegas Golden Knights at Rogers Place on Wednesday, after sitting out the previous three games with the injury. McDavid sustained the injury 37 seconds into a 6-1 loss at the Columbus Blue Jackets and was originally expected to be out 2-3 weeks.

Coaches' Insights

“I thought he was good, he was skating well,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Usually, he’s putting on three or four points on the scoresheet, but for a guy that practiced, he skated a little bit, but hadn’t got any contact, I thought he fit in and had a good game.”

• McDavid centered a line with right wing Zach Hyman and left wing Jeff Skinner.
• He played 21:02 and had two shots on net.
• His face-off circle performance was 8-for-13, finishing with a minus-1 rating.

“It is not like he was out (injured) for a period where he was losing his conditioning,” Knoblauch said. “A little bit longer (out) and it probably drops. We weren’t going to overload it where it was one of those nights where he plays 23, 24, 25 minutes.”

McDavid has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 11 games and is eight points away from 1,000 for his career.

Team Dynamics

“He’s obviously the main piece of the team, so he’s missed when he’s not around,” Oilers defenseman Brett Kulak said. “He brings something that no other player in the League brings, so it was nice to have him back out there and I think he was feeling good.”

McDavid had 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists) in 20 regular-season games against the Golden Knights prior to this contest. Vegas successfully contained him and Leon Draisaitl on Wednesday, keeping both off the scoresheet.

• “We always try to work over top of him, there’s no secrets,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy noted.
• “If you can minimize his speed through the neutral zone then he’s forced to kick pucks out.”

McDavid is expected to be back in the lineup when Edmonton (6-7-1) travels to face the Vancouver Canucks (6-2-3) at Rogers Arena on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, CITY).

“Obviously, he's our leader, the best player in the game,” Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins stated. “So it makes a big difference for us.”