McDavid joins last-minute lineup to face playoff elimination game vs. Ducks

The Edmonton Oilers are hosting the Anaheim Ducks for Game 5 of the first round of playoffs Tuesday night. Here's what their coach has to say.

The world’s best hockey player is taking to the ice for the Edmonton Oilers’ do-or-die Game 5 against the Anaheim Ducks at Rogers Place Tuesday.

Ahead of the 8 p.m. match, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch had Connor McDavid, the NHL’s leading scorer this season and three-time most-valuable player, marked as a game-time decision for whether he’d join the lineup. 

McDavid didn’t take part in Tuesday’s morning skate before the game. He appeared to injure his right leg early in the series but has downplayed the suggestion he’s hurt. 

Jason Dickinson, the shutdown specialist who centres the team’s third line, also suited up for the game – his fate had also been decided just before. He had missed games 2 and 3 of the series with an injury. 

Forward Colton Dach was also spotted skating during warmups Tuesday evening after being sidelined due to injury during the regular season.

“It’s not really about Connor McDavid here,” the captain said after Sunday’s Oilers’ 4-3 overtime loss in Anaheim. “It’s about two teams that are trying to figure each other out. They’re playing well, and we’ve got another level as a group.”

Knoblauch admitted injuries are affecting the way the Oilers are playing but doesn’t accept them as an excuse for being down in the series, given his team played some of its best hockey just before the playoffs began last week.

The Ducks lead the best-of-seven, first-round showdown with the Oilers three games to one. They’ve won the last three games.

“A lot of teams that have injuries, and they still continue to play well,” Knoblauch told reporters after the morning skate. “Some of the things that we’re doing right now weren’t the things that we were doing at the end of the regular season ...

“I don’t think we’ve seen the best out of our group, even though there are some circumstances and some guys that are not 100 per cent, but I still think we’ve got a lot more.”

McDavid has played in all four games this post-season, scoring a goal and three assists for four points. The 29-year-old superstar played in all 82 Oilers regular-season games this campaign, scoring 48 goals and 90 assists for 138 points to win the Art Ross Trophy as NHL leading scorer for a sixth time in his 11-year pro career.

His play over the final month of games before the post-season not only vaulted him to the scoring title but greatly helped the Oilers secure a playoff spot.

McDavid recorded 11 goals and 13 assists for 24 points over the final 14 games of the season minus fellow star Leon Draisaitl, who was sidelined for the rest of the 2025-26 campaign recovering from an injury in mid-March.

Ingram returns to Oilers net

Connor Ingram will start in goal for the Oilers for Game 5, Knoblauch said Tuesday morning.

Ingram last played in Game 3, when he allowed six goals in the Oilers’ 7-4 loss. Tristan Jarry tended Edmonton’s goal in Game 4, but while the coach thought he had “a solid game” in Sunday’s loss, Ingram deserves to start since he started most of the regular-season games down the stretch.

“Now that our season’s on the line, we felt that we would go with our guy,” Knoblauch said.

Ingram has posted a 4.70 goals-against average and .849 save percentage in his three games against the Ducks.