Connor McDavid is a game-time decision for the Edmonton Oilers ahead of a must-win Game 5 in their first-round Western Conference playoff series against Anaheim on Tuesday.
The Oilers face elimination trailing the Ducks 3-1 in their best-of-seven. Edmonton's captain was absent from the team's morning skate earlier Tuesday, after which coach Kris Knoblouch confirmed McDavid's uncertain status for that evening.
"Any time you're missing someone, you need someone stepping up," said Knoblouch of Edmonton adjusting amid injury struggles. "We do have some guys who are banged up, and they continue to play and do the best they can do. Ultimately, everyone has to step it up a little bit. Playoffs are a tough time to play. It's tight checking, there's not much room... right now, we need those guys who are healthy to pick up the slack for the guys who can't play like they want to."
Oilers forward Jason Dickinson -- who missed Games 2 and 3 of the series with a lower-body injury but returned for Game 4 -- also missed the morning workout and is a game-time call.
It's not clear exactly what's holding McDavid out of action. He previously skipped the team's practice prior to Game 4 on Sunday but still suited up to play 19:32 and notched two assists in the Oilers 4-3 overtime loss. The only prior inkling that something was amiss with McDavid came about in Game 2 when an awkward collision with teammate Mattias Ekholm sent him briefly back to the dressing room with a lower-body issue. He came back quickly and ended the game with over 24 minutes of ice time.
Knoblouch sidestepped any specifics on McDavid's condition but pointed to how the Oilers had admirably weathered the absence of star forward Leon Draisaitl in the regular season and felt they were capable of battling through similar adversity now if they could tap back into what has made them successful in the first place.
"Injuries are affecting how we are playing," Knoblouch said. "But a lot of teams have injuries, and they continue to play well. I see some of the things we are doing now aren't the things we were doing at the end of the regular season. I don't think we've seen the best out of our group. Even though there are some circumstances [to deal with] and some guys that are not 100%, I still think we've got a lot more."
McDavid's production has been under the microscope throughout the playoffs thus far. He has a goal and three assists in four games and hasn't had a signature performance reflective of his league-leading 48-goal, 138-point showing in 81 regular-season outings. The center's dominance earned him a nomination on Tuesday for the Ted Lindsay Award recognizing the NHL MVP as voted on by members of the NHL Players Association. (Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov and San Jose's Macklin Celebrini were the other finalists.)
Where McDavid and the Oilers are now is unchartered territory of late. Edmonton is coming off back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances, where they lost (twice) to the Florida Panthers. The Oilers haven't dropped a first-round series since the COVID-19 shortened 2020-21 campaign. Edmonton has been its own worst enemy, putting itself at risk of an uncharacteristic early exit. The Oilers are allowing the most goals-against in the postseason (at five per game), have the worst penalty kill (50%), are allowing over 33 shots-against and starter Connor Ingram has a woeful .849 SV%.
After going with backup Tristan Jarry in Game 4, the Oilers are handing the reigns back to Ingram -- who carried the regular season load at 16-10-3 with an .893 SV% -- in an effort to extend their season.
"I think our starts [that must improve]," Knoblouch said. "We've had leads in every game; we just have to maintain that lead. I think a lot of it has to do with discipline, not taking untimely penalties and allowing them to get back in the game. We're not going to win this series in the first period or [on] the first shift. It's going to take more than that. All we can do tonight is for each player to win their shift and hopefully we can win tonight and put a little bit of pressure on them going back into their building [for Game 6] and maybe they feel like that's a must-win game for them."
That old cliche -- one shift at a time, one game at a time -- reverberated among Edmonton's players, too. The Oilers have had their backs against the wall in bigger moments -- like falling behind Florida 3-1 in the Cup Final two years ago. Edmonton punched its way back with three consecutive wins to force a Game 7.
The stakes are different at this juncture, but the Oilers are confident they can use past experience to improve their present fortunes.
"There needs to be urgency," Kasperi Kapanen said. "We are one game away from elimination. But we have a lot of veteran guys who have been through these situations like this, and that helps. Tonight we are going to play our best game."