Leon Draisaitl will miss his second straight game when the Edmonton Oilers host the St. Louis Blues on Sunday night.
The former Hart Trophy recipient has taken a leave of absence and returned home to Germany due to an illness in his family.
“Obviously, we’re going to miss Leon, and hopefully, it’s not very long,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “And obviously, we support Leon. What’s going on right now, it’s an unfortunate situation. It is what it is.”
Draisaitl has 25 goals and 42 assists in 48 games this season.
“Everybody in here is a brother, father, son, whatever it is, and that stuff comes first,” Oilers superstar captain Connor McDavid said. “He’s got to go home and be with his family, and we’re obviously thinking about him and his entire family. We’ve got to take care of things.”
Playing without Draisaitl on Saturday, the Oilers received two goals each from supporting cast forwards Kasperi Kapanen and Jack Roslovic during their 6-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
Meanwhile the Blues reaffirmed their defensive identity before heading to Edmonton. St. Louis blanked the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 on Tuesday and edged the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in a shootout on Friday.
“We knew it would be a good test, a quick little homestand before a road trip,” Blues winger Jake Neighbours said. “It was a big point of emphasis for us. Carolina was coming off a back-to-back, so that game was important and Tampa was on an 11-game win streak coming into (Friday).
“Two big games and guys rose up for the challenge, played a stingy, hard defensive game.”
The Blues defeated Edmonton 3-2 at home on Nov. 3. Jordan Binnington made 24 saves and top center Robert Thomas collected a goal and an assist while also matching up against McDavid.
But Thomas is on injured reserve with a lower-body issue and Joel Hofer has supplanted Binnington as the team’s No. 1 goaltender. Hofer won both games on the homestand while improving to 9-4-0 since Nov. 29.
He posted a 2.20 goals-against average in December and a 2.24 GAA thus far in January.
“He’s playing big in the nets,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “He’s making tough saves look easy. That gives you a lot of confidence on the bench, especially the players in front of him.”
During his second start since coming off the injured list, Tristan Jarry blanked the Canucks on 31 shots. His return left Edmonton with a three-goaltender rotation.
Calvin Pickard backed up Jarry Saturday night while Connor Ingram remained in Edmonton to prepare to face the Blues in the opener of an eight-game homestand.
“We aren’t set on what we are going to do with three goalies,” Knoblauch said. “Will it be for the rest of the season, a few weeks, or a few months? We haven’t decided yet.”
Ingram is 4-3-1 with 2.49 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage in his eight starts this season. He is 2-1-1 with a 1.73 GAA and a .933 save percentage in four starts this month.
–Field Level Media
