In a season that is far from smooth-sailing, so far, the Edmonton Oilers took quite a few body shots the past two days.
First, No. 1 goaltender Cam Talbot landed on injured reserve Thursday morning. Then, top defenseman Adam Larsson was unable to dress for that evening's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs with an undisclosed ailment. Thursday ended with Kris Russell putting the puck in his own net, the game-deciding goal in a 6-4 loss to the Leafs.
Friday brought a new day -- the sun did come up in Edmonton, by the way -- but it also brought more bad news. The Oilers placed Larsson on injured reserve with an upper body injury.
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However, there is a glint of positive news. After Saturday's game in Calgary against the Flames, the Oilers do not play again until next Wednesday at home against the Philadelphia Flyers, and coach Todd McClellan believes that Larsson should be able to play that night, his first day of eligibility to return. That means Larsson likely will miss just two games -- against the Leafs and Flames. In the world of the struggling Oilers, this constitutes a win of sorts.
"It's an injury he woke up with," McLellan told reporters after practice Friday. "It's not major. It's an upper-body thing, and we're hoping that by Wednesday, when we play Philly here that he's good to go."
Larsson did not miss a game all season until Thursday. With their top d-man out, the Oilers leaned heavily on Oscar Klefbom, Darnell Nurse and Russell, who all played more than 24 minutes against the Maple Leafs. Matt Benning was up over 22 minutes while Johann Auvitu and Eric Gryba barely got over ten minutes apiece.
Klefbom did not practice Friday -- a maintenance day, according to the coach -- but is expected to play against the Flames. Defenseman Ryan Stanton was recalled from the minors and joins the team in Calgary.
With Talbot sidelined at least two weeks -- "maybe more" in the words of McLellan -- Laurent Brossoit starts in goal against the Flames after making 30 saves and earning the praise of his coach.
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As for Russell, Thursday is just a bitter memory and he moved on from his mistake, not before impressing teammates in how well he handled a difficult -- and embarrassing -- situation.
"I think he handled it great," said teammate Mark Letestu. "He was emotional about it, we all didn't want to lose that game. He was one of our better players (Friday) night and it's just an unfortunate accident. He came to work today, head up, getting ready for Calgary."
The Oilers and Flames met on opening night, a 3-0 Edmonton victory which featured a Talbot shutout and a Connor McDavid hat trick. Calgary is seven points up on Edmonton in the Western Conference standings -- with a game in hand -- making Saturday's contest an important one for an Oilers team that needs desperately to string some wins together.