Oilers clinch playoffs, but injuries take down two more players. It’s ridiculous

Connor McDavid has seven assists in two games after missing the previous eight with an injury, goaltender Stuart Skinner was healthy enough after missing the last seven games to serve as a backup, and Mattias Ekholm rejoined the team after missing the last two weeks with a lower body issue.

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Perfect, right?

But if it seemed like the Edmonton Oilers were finally turning the injury corner, you haven’t been watching the Oilers this year. Ekholm got re-injured on his second shift and winger Zach Hyman left the game with an undisclosed injury after just seven minutes.

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This is starting to get ridiculous — and scary. Are the Edmonton Oilers walking wounded or walking dead?

Things are getting so bad that even general manager Stan Bowman is wearing a walking boot while he recovers from an achilles tear.

The Oilers beat the San Jose Sharks 4-2 on goals from Evan Bouchard, Ty Emberson, a third-period winner from Corey Perry and an empty netter from Connor Brown as the Edmonton finally clinched their playoff spot.

McDavid assisted on all of them Friday night to join Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux as the only players in NHL history to record seven 70-assist seasons.

But the bad news far outweighed the good.

Ekholm didn’t last long in his first game back after missing the last seven. He played all of 1:25 before being pulled from the game. It didn’t look good, either — he fell down in the neutral zone, got up and took a few strides before falling again, untouched.

It left the short-staffed Oilers with just five defencemen for the second game in a row.

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It’s also the second time the 34-year-old (35 on May 24) relapsed from this injury. Prior to this he missed six games in a row, came back for four and got hurt again, then sat out seven in a row.

This is becoming a recurring theme, players coming back from an injury and getting injured again in short order.

Leon Draisaitl missed four games, came back for three, got hurt again and hasn’t played since (four games and counting).

Trent Frederic, acquired from the Oilers at the trade deadline, sat out a month with his high ankle sprain, tweaked it again six seconds into his first shift, lasted seven minutes and might not be back for Game 1 of the playoffs.

“But I definitely know he’s going to be coming back at some point during the series,” said Knoblauch. “We hope to get him in Game 1, maybe it’s Game 2. That’s kind of the time line we’re looking at.”

Meanwhile, defenceman Jake Walman is still out, joining the long list of players who’ve been “day-to-day” this year and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins missed his second game in a row due to illness. And who knows what to expect from Evander Kane and when to expect it.

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Losing Ekholm, for some of the playoffs, if that’s the case, is a killer. He’s a huge part of Edmonton’s blue line, as Kris Knoblauch outlined at the morning skate when he thought he had him back for the rest of the year.

“He can eat up minutes playing against other team’s top lines and also a guy our forwards, especially our skilled forwards, like to be on the ice with because he can transport the puck really nicely,” said the coach. “The role that Ekkie has is immense. He does so much for our team. We use him in all situations.

“Also settling down the D group and being a voice of reason to talk and help other guys not panic. He’s a fabulous player, a great leader and somebody we value quite a bit in the dressing room.”

Hyman, meanwhile, is their second-leading goal scorer.

E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com

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