The Edmonton Oilers have reached the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2006 but they might have to start the series without a near-45-point scorer.
Right winger Evander Kane left Game 6 with an injury and although he returned to the bench, he didn’t skate at all through the third period of the series-clinching match against the Dallas Stars on Sunday, June 2.
Kane suffered his injury in the first period of Game 6 after completing a body check on Stars player Alex Petrovic. Kane went straight to the locker room through the bench and the arena tunnel in visible discomfort.
With 4:39 TOI at the end of Sunday’s game, the forward’s total playing time was by far the lowest of the playoffs. Kane had never played fewer than 13:08 minutes in any other game during the conference finals of the 17 playoff games prior to sustaining this injury.
Throughout the regular season, Kane scored 44 points, 24 of which were from goals. In 18 postseason games, he has 8 points (4 goals).
Evander Kane Suffered From A Sports Hernia Before Playoffs
If this news feels like Deja Vu, that’s because it is.
A little over a month ago, on April 21, the news involving Kane painted a similar scenario. Kane was questionable to play Game 1 of the first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings then.
Regarding his availability for the playoffs opener on Sunday, April 21, Kane told reporters after practice, “Not sure.” “It’s good to get some sleep at last.” I’ve had a sports hernia for the better part of the year. I decided it would be wise to take a week off for the playoffs and see how I felt because it was just getting worse.
At the time, Kane was recovering after missing the last three games of the Oilers’ regular season because to his sports hernia rehabilitation and load management.
Kane, however, ended up in the Game 1 lineup and skated for a bulky 16:02 minutes completing 2 hits and posting a neutral plus/minus in Edmonton’s 7-4 victory over the Kings on April 22.
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