Edmonton Oilers hiding Leon Draisaitl injury after dirty crosscheck

The Vancouver Canucks flipped the script on the Oilers last night with a crushing comeback win. The momentum completely changed when Leon Draisaitl left the Oilers bench in the second period.

Draisaitl took a hard cross check to his back the shift previously from Canucks defenceman Tyler Myers, and was clearly shaken up by it. On the bench afterwards, it looked like Draisaitl even said the words ‘my back' to the Oilers trainer. Leon took the ice for just a few seconds to test out how he felt before returning to the room. Moments later, the trainer came back out to have a hushed conversation with Coach Knoblauch. Thankfully, Draisaitl was able to return in the third.




Draisaitl returned to play the third period, but clearly was nowhere near 100%, and at the point the momentum of the game heavily favoured the Canucks. The Oilers played the rest of the game in a panicked defensive mindset, and blew the 4-1 lead.

Leon Draisaitl was unavailable to media after sustaining apparent injury

After the game, even Connor McDavid had a very strange reaction to Draisaitl's injury. McDavid recounted the chaos on the Oilers bench as Draisaitl went down the tunnel, then shook his head and sputtered out that Draisaitl is fine. To add to the belief that Draisaitl did sustain an injury on the play, he wasn't made available to the media post-game as the trainers were attending to him. Knoblauch described it as cramping and equipment issues, but it wouldn't be the first time a team lied about injuries in the playoffs.



Hopefully whatever injury Draisaitl sustained on the play is minor enough that he'll be able to play through it for the remainder of the series without being affected too much. Oilers fans know Draisaitl can still have elite production offensively with injury, like his legendary playoff run with a high ankle sprain.

It's a significant blow that Draisaitl may not be 100% healthy, but as long as he's in the lineup, the Oilers will still have a great chance. As Draisaitl said himself before the series to the media, he's annoyed by the fact they're considered favourites, and knows they need to take this series seriously. It's critical the Oilers have him in the lineup and as close to healthy as possible.