According to multiple reports from media who were at the Edmonton Oilers’ on-ice practice Sunday morning, everyone wanted to see if Darnell Nurse would be skating, which he was. Reports had him looking good and paired with Cody Ceci for most of the morning. According to those in attendance, while nothing was confirmed, it was a good sign that he returns for Game 1 tomorrow night versus the Los Angeles Kings.
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TSN’s Ryan Rishaug wrote on Twitter, “Skating looks pretty good, shooting the puck well. Good early signs on Nurse here.” Others said he looked like he was up to speed fairly quickly and not hampered by a lower-body injury that kept him out of the final four games of the regular season. Nurse will surely be asked how he feels when he gets off the ice and when both he and head coach Jay Woodcroft confirm he’s good to go, Oilers fans can breathe a little easier.
The Oilers stayed hot as the season closed, even without Nurse in the lineup. That said, having him back will help better distribute minutes to guys like Duncan Keith, Brett Kulak, and Philip Broberg, who was also at practice today and recalled from the Bakersfield Condors.
Early reports after Nurse suffered the injury were that it wasn’t too serious. The Oilers likely might have been holding him out of the lineup for precautionary reasons, no one from the organization was too forthcoming about his situation. That he’s back on the ice prior to the first-round series against Los Angeles also isn’t a sign of how many minutes he’ll play. The Oilers could ease him into it or have him play regular minutes. He was averaging over 25 minutes per game which led the team.
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