While the Oilers came back from a two-game deficit to beat Los Angeles in the first round, they won’t be getting any reinforcements on the back end for their next series against Vegas. Daily Faceoff’s Jason Gregor relays (Twitter link) that blueliner Mattias Ekholm won’t be available to play in the second round.
The 34-year-old returned to the lineup late in the regular season after missing seven games due to an undisclosed injury. However, he played just three shifts spanning 1:52 in that game before going down with an undisclosed injury that has kept him out of the lineup since then and will evidently hold him out for a couple more weeks at a minimum.
Ekholm’s absence is certainly a significant one. He had a career year last season in his first full campaign with the team, notching 45 points while logging over 21 minutes a night. This year, his output dipped a bit to 33 points in 65 games but his 22:12 ATOI was third on the team.
Notably, Ekholm was their anchor on the penalty kill during the regular season and his absence was certainly felt in the playoffs. The Kings scored on 40% of their power play opportunities during the opening round as Edmonton struggled considerably when shorthanded but they’ll have to make do without their top defender on that unit for a while yet.
In Ekholm’s absence, Brett Kulak has taken on a much bigger role than usual while John Klingberg returned early in the first round and jumped into a top-four spot, a deployment that will likely continue when their series against the Golden Knights opens up next week.