Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid left Monday’s game with a lower-body injury during his first shift and didn’t return.
He was tripped on a uncalled penalty during the first period as he entered the Columbus Blue Jackets’ zone in a 6-1 loss and slid into the boards. McDavid got up and skated slowly to the Oilers’ bench, holding up his left leg.
Coach Kris Knoblauch said after the game that McDavid would return to Edmonton to be further evaluated.
‘Hopefully, short-term,’ he said. ‘And our team’s going to look different. Maybe it’s one or two games, I’m not sure.’
The Oilers play Thursday in Nashville and Sunday in Calgary before heading home.
McDavid is a three-time league MVP and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after the Oilers lost to the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.
He has 10 points in 10 games this season. The Oilers, who had bounced back to .500 after a slow start, fell to 4-5-1 with the loss.
Winnipeg Jets suffer first loss of the season
The NHL’s last unbeaten team, the Winnipeg Jets, fell to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night for their first loss of the season. The 6-4 loss dropped them to 8-1 as their franchise-best start came to an end.
Down 4-0, the Jets pushed back to 4-2 before the Maple Leafs scored again late in the second period. Winnipeg made it close on goals by Kyle Connor and Gabriel Vilardi and pulled goalie Connor Hellebuyck to press for the tying goal.
However, Toronto’s John Tavares scored into the empty net for his first goal of the game.
San Jose Sharks pick up first win of the season
The NHL also no longer has a winless team after the San Jose Sharks rallied to beat the Utah Hockey Club, 5-4.
Down 4-1 with less than five minutes left in the third period, the Sharks got three goals in one minute, 50 seconds (Fabian Zetterlund, Mikael Granlund and Tyler Toffoli) to tie the game. Alex Wennberg scored an overtime power play goal as San Jose improved to 1-7-2 and Utah’s losing streak hit four games.
Granlund has scored in four consecutive games.
Steven Stamkos has two assists in return to Tampa Bay, but Lightning win
The Nashville Predators lost 3-2 to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday on an overtime goal by Lightning forward Nick Paul.
The loss spoiled an eventful return to Amalie Arena for Steven Stamkos, who finished with a season high two assists on six shots.
After falling behind 2-0 to the Lightning, the Predators fought back in the second on goals by Ryan O’Reilly and Gustav Nyquist. In the third period, the Predators had multiple opportunities at a go-ahead goal, but were denied by Tampa goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who made 35 saves in the game.
Paul’s overtime goal came at the 3:22 mark of overtime, clinching Tampa’s sixth win of the season.
