Connor McDavid will not return to action Friday night when the Edmonton Oilers host the Minnesota Wild.
“He skated early this morning again. He skated with our group this morning,” head coach Dave Tippett said.
“He won’t play tonight. We’ll practice before we leave the trip tomorrow. We’ll see where he is tomorrow morning.”
The Oilers have gone 3-1-1 without McDavid.
“I think the leadership comes into play there,” centre Colby Cave said. “These guys that have been around for a while really take the reigns for the boys. They lead the way the example. It’s easy for guys like us who have just come up or haven’t played as many games this year to really follow those guys and never give up.
“It doesn’t matter who’s in and who’s out. We always have a chance to win.”
The Oilers, who are 12-4-3 in their last 19 games, go into Friday’s action in second in the Pacific Division, one point behind the Vegas Golden Knights.
“You can kind of feel it in the dressing room that there’s kind of a little bit of mojo going on,” defenceman Matt Benning said. “We have trust in one another that we’re going to make the right play at the right kind of the game.”
The Oilers expected lineup against the Wild is:
Nugent-Hopkins – Draisaitl – Yamamoto
Benson – Sheahan – Archibald
Gagner – Haas – Chiasson
Khaira – Cave – P. Russell
Nurse – Bear
Jones – Larsson
Lagesson – Benning
Koskinen
Catch the game on 630 CHED with the Face-off Show at 5:30 p.m. The game starts at 7 p.m.
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