In an Edmonton Oilers news and rumors update, there is information regarding the status of Darnell Nurse and Evander Kane for Game 3, a ruling on Leon Draisaitl’s hit to Aleksander Barkov, new footage somewhat vindicating Warren Foegele and questions about how the Oilers will get back into this Stanley Cup Final series.
Darnell Nurse Should Be Ready for Game 3
Defenseman Darnell Nurse didn’t take part in practice on Wednesday, but it’s being reported that he should be available to the Oilers for Game 3. Nurse was injured in Game 2 and played just over four minutes. He tried to skate a few times and stay in the game but was clearly laboring.
It would be a huge blow if Nurse is banged up. It would be even worse if he’s not available at all. The two-day break is helping the situation. Darren Dreger said if he can’t go, the Oilers will swap him out for Cody Ceci who will slot back in. It wasn’t clear what Ceci’s status would be if Nurse could go.
Evander Kane Left Practice Early
Dreger adds that it’s clear Evander Kane is hurt. He’s not his normal self and not staying seated while on the bench during games. Kane was the first on the ice this morning at practice, skated for a while, then had a five-minute conversation with head coach Kris Knoblauch and left the ice surface.
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The expectation is that Kane is going to try and grind through his issues. If he can’t go, the belief is that Derek Ryan will return to the Oilers’ lineup. Ryan McLeod was getting a look on the Oilers’ second line with Kane not taking line rushes.
Draisaitl Not Given Supplemental Discipline
Leon Draisaitl has not been fined or suspended by the NHL DoPS for a high hit on Aleksander Barkov. The league looked at the play and didn’t deem it to be serious enough to warrant more than the penalty that was called on the ice. Frankly, that’s probably the right call given all of the other infractions that have gone on in the series. Elliotte Friedman noted, “(George Parros) decided, at the end of the day, that it did not arise to the deliberate attempt to injure.”
The fact that Barkov seems fine and was back on the ice at practice with the Panthers without any visible signs of an injury likely played into the lack of action by the league. The Stanley Cup Final has gotten more and more greasy. There have been multiple runs at players, some questionable hits, a chokehold by one player onto another, and the series is only two games in.
If the DoPS was going to suspend Draisaitl for that play, they would be opening a can of worms on a number of other plays that officials have let slide.
Was Warren Foegele’s Hit Dirty?
Warren Foegele was given a 5-minute major and a game misconduct for a knee-on-knee hit in Game of the Stanley Cup Final. But, video footage from a different angle seems to suggest the officials might have been too hasty with their call.
Foegele wasn’t served any supplemental discipline on the play and could be back in the lineup for Game 3. Part of the reason might be because the hit didn’t actually appear to be a knee-on-knee, but more a thigh-on-thigh hit where Foegele turned his skate to play the puck and not lay in a hit. So too, he went flying through the air, in part, because Eetu Luostarinen’s stick got caught up underneath Foegele’s skates.
Was it a nasty collision? Sure. Did Luostarinen sell it by staying down a long time? Perhaps. Knoblauch seems to think so as he said after the game that the reactions from two similar hits by two different players played a role in the call. “I see (Evan) Bouchard got up right away, their guy didn’t get up right away.”
