Connor McDavid will return to the Edmonton Oilers lineup Wednesday night against the Winnipeg Jets at Rogers Place.
“I hadn’t been sick this year. This one hit me a little later,” said McDavid, who missed Monday’s overtime loss to Vegas with an illness.
The Oilers are 4-1-1 in their last six games despite being outshot 239-156 over that span. Head coach Dave Tippett has said there’s been a disconnect between the defencemen and forwards.
“Our game is getting spread out right now. Guys are waiting for the puck in the neutral zone. The D have no one to give it to. That’s on the forwards,” said McDavid.
“We gotta come back. We gotta be five tight. This is something Tip has talked about since training camp.”
The Oilers are second in the Pacific Division with 83 points, three back of first the place Vegas Golden Knight. The Jets are in a three-way tie with Vancouver and Nashville for the wild card spots in the Western Conference.
“March is a tough month for us,” Oscar Klefbom said. “But the guys who were here remember how much fun it was playing in the playoffs.
“We gotta take care of getting back to the winning column and playing the right way because playoffs can be really short if you’re not ready for it.”
The Oilers expected lineup is:
Nugent-Hopkins – Draisaitl – Yamamoto
Ennis – McDavid – Kassian
Athanasiou – Sheahan – Archibald
Neal – Khaira – Chiasson
Klefbom – Larsson
Nurse – Bear
Jones – Benning
Smith
The Oilers and Jets are on 630 CHED with the Face-off Show at 5:30 p.m. The game starts at 7 p.m.
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