Knights preview: Oilers star to return from ankle injury

The Golden Knights will have to deal with Connor McDavid after all.

The Edmonton Oilers will have their captain back, much sooner than expected following an ankle injury, when the Knights visit their Pacific Division rivals Wednesday at Rogers Place.

McDavid injured his ankle Oct. 28 against the Columbus Blue Jackets and was to miss two to three weeks. Instead, it will be eight days from the time McDavid last played.

The Knights, in search of their first road win of the season, begin a stretch of nine of their next 11 on the road. That run begins with a matchup of the past two Western Conference champions.

“We all know (McDavid’s) probably the best player out there,” Knights left wing Ivan Barbashev said. “We just got to play simple and be smart against him.”

McDavid has gotten off to a slow start by his standards with 10 points in 10 games, but it’s not just him.

It has been a weird start to the season for the Oilers (6-6-1) in general. Normally one of the highest-scoring teams in the NHL, the Oilers’ 2.38 goals per game are third-worst in the league.

Their daunting power play has also stumbled at 14.7 percent, 27th in the league.

Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said Tuesday that game-planning for the Oilers wouldn’t change with or without McDavid. The key, Cassidy said, remains the Knights needing to find their game, especially on the road.

The Knights have lost all four of their game away from T-Mobile Arena, the latest a 6-3 setback to the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 30.

“At the end of the day, we still have to play our game and account for how special a player he is,” Cassidy said of McDavid. “But we still got to execute when we have the puck, check well and get it back.”

Golden Knights at Oilers

Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta

When: 5:30 p.m. Wednesday

TV: KMCC-34

Radio: KKGK (98.9 FM, 1340 AM)

Line: Oilers -115; total 6½

Projected lineup

Ivan Barbashev — Jack Eichel — Mark Stone

Brett Howden — Tomas Hertl — Pavel Dorofeyev

Tanner Pearson — William Karlsson — Alexander Holtz

Cole Schwindt — Nicolas Roy — Keegan Kolesar

Noah Hanifin — Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb — Shea Theodore

Nic Hague — Zach Whitecloud

Adin Hill