Ekholm to miss 1st round of Stanley Cup Playoffs for Oilers with injury

EDMONTON -- Mattias Ekholm will not be available for the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Los Angeles Kings because of an undisclosed injury.

“Not confirmed, but it looks like Mattias will be out for a while and won’t be returning any time soon,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said Monday. “He’s not playing tonight and not playing in the first round of the playoffs.”

The defenseman missed seven games with an undisclosed injury and returned to play against the San Jose Sharks on Friday but left after two shifts. Ekholm was not unavailable for a 4-1 win against the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday.

He has 33 points (nine goals, 24 assists) and is plus-11 in 65 games while averaging 22:12 of ice time.

“Mattias is very valuable to our team, No. 1, just being a puck-moving defenseman and putting up points,” Knoblauch said. “Among defensemen, 5-on-5 points (26) he’s high up around the NHL, but also playing against other team’s top lines and adding a physical presence. He’s a big guy, he’s strong and he checks all the boxes. When our penalty killing is going really well, he’s usually a big part of that, being the first guy over the boards all the time.”

Ekholm is part of a growing list of injuries for the Oilers, who decided to sit captain Connor McDavid for precautionary reasons in a 5-0 loss to the Kings at Rogers Place on Monday.

McDavid had two assists and was plus-3 on Sunday. He has 99 points (26 goals, 73 assists) in 66 games, including nine assists in three games since returning from a lower-body injury he sustained in a 4-3 overtime loss against the Jets on March 20.

He missed eight games because of the injury and returned in a 4-3 win against the St. Louis Blues on April 11, collecting three assists. McDavid was named the NHL’s Second Star of the Week on Monday.

“McDavid is not playing tonight,” Knoblauch said. “That’s just precautionary. With us playing three [games] in four [nights] and back-to-back, we felt we have too much to lose there. We’re playing that extremely safe.”

Edmonton (47-29-5), which will finish as the No. 3 seed from the Pacific Division, was also without forwards Leon Draisaitl (lower body), Zach Hyman (undisclosed), Trent Frederic (ankle), and defensemen Troy Stecher (undisclosed), Jake Walman (undisclosed) and John Klingberg (lower body) on Monday. Forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins returned after missing three games with an illness.

McDavid, Draisaitl, Hyman and Walman are expected to available for Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round against Los Angeles, which will have home-ice advantage. The two teams will be playing in the first round for the fourth straight season. Edmonton has won the previous three.

The Oilers play their regular-season finale Wednesday at the San Jose Sharks.

“Absolutely it’s bad luck,” Knoblauch said of the injuries. “In the past two or three years and even looking farther after that, the Edmonton Oilers’ injury record is probably the best when it comes to not losing players to injury, [but] right now it’s catching up to us.

“We have a lot of guys that we are anticipating to come back at the start of the playoffs, which is nice. McDavid, Draisaitl, Hyman, those guys are pretty important, and I wouldn’t be as confident and looking forward to it as much as I am if those guys weren’t in a position that they are. [But] we still have a lot of good players. We’re missing some guys that we wish were in the lineup, but I think we still have a good team and have an excellent opportunity.”