McDavid returns for Oilers in loss to Golden Knights

EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid returned to the Edmonton Oilers lineup on Wednesday, and though he was held pointless in his first game since sustaining an ankle injury on Oct. 28, he was a welcomed sight.

“I thought he was good, he was skating well,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said after a 4-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights at Rogers Place. “Usually, he’s putting on three or four points on the scoresheet, but for a guy that practiced, he skated a little bit, but hadn’t got any contact, I thought he fit in and had a good game.”

McDavid had missed the previous three games after sustaining the injury 37 seconds into a 6-1 loss at the Columbus Blue Jackets and was originally expected to be out 2-3 weeks.

McDavid centered a line with right wing Zach Hyman and left wing Jeff Skinner. McDavid played 21:02, had two shots on net and was 8-for-13 in the face-off circle. He finished with a minus-1 rating.

“It is not like he was out (injured) for a period where he was losing his conditioning,” Knoblauch said. “A little bit longer (out) and it probably drops. We weren’t going to overload it where it was one of those nights where he plays 23, 24, 25 minutes.”

McDavid has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 11 games. He is eight points away from 1,000 for his career.

“He’s obviously the main piece of the team, so he’s missed when he’s not around,” Oilers defenseman Brett Kulak said. “He brings something that no other player in the League brings, so it was nice to have him back out there and I think he was feeling good.”

McDavid had 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists) in 20 regular-season games against the Golden Knights going into the contest. Vegas did a good job containing him and Leon Draisaitl on Wednesday, keeping them both off the scoresheet.

“We always try to work over top of him, there’s no secrets,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “If you can minimize his speed through the neutral zone then he’s forced to kick pucks out and then at least you have his winger making the plays as opposed to him backing you off. I thought we tried to do that with Draisaitl as well and tonight, we were successful.”

McDavid will be back in the lineup when Edmonton (6-7-1) travels to face the Vancouver Canucks (6-2-3) at Rogers Arena on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, CITY).

“Obviously, he's our leader, the best player in the game,” Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. “So it makes a big difference for us.”