A pair of Edmonton Oilers players were missing from Saturday’s morning skate ahead of game seven.
Both Leon Draisaitl and Brett Kulak were not spotted, and Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft offered up nothing in the way of update.
For Draisaitl, he’s dealing with a few issues namely a lower-leg injury he suffered during game six. Kings defenceman Mikey Anderson hauled him down from behind twisting his right leg up. He returned and finished the game, but was clearly off.
Sportsnet’s Mark Spector has also reported that Drasaitl is believed to be dealing with some sort of a back injury in the playoffs, too. Despite this, he set up the game-winning goal in game five and has scored five goals and eight points through six games.
During game five, Kulak didn’t miss anytime and played a crucial role on the top pairing alongside Cody Ceci while Darnell Nurse was out due to a suspension.
It’s hard to imagine either Draisaitl or Kulak missing game seven.
It’s hard to imagine neither of these players won’t be able to go for game seven tonight. The way the lines will be deployed will be interesting. As Rishaug noted above, things were… a mess at morning skate.
The Oilers have the matchup advantage tonight given the game is at home, so going 12/6 makes sense. That being said, Kris Russell had a real strong game five. Would they consider going 11/7 again? We’ll find out shortly before puck drop.
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