Connor McDavid listed as day-to-day with lower-body injury suffered in Saturday’s win over Flames

Connor McDavid was absent during Edmonton Oilers practice on Tuesday morning and Dylan Holloway was called up from the American Hockey League to join the team.

Leon Draisaitl filled in as the top-line centre between Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman while Adam Henrique moved into the second-line centre role alongside Evander Kane and Warren Foegele. Holloway, who scored a hat trick over the weekend for the Bakersfield Condors, was playing on the third line with Ryan McLeod as the centre and Corey Perry on the right.

After practice, head coach Kris Knoblauch provided an update on McDavid’s status. Per Mark Spector of Sportsnet, the team’s captain suffered a lower-body injury during the final few minutes of Edmonton’s win over the Calgary Flames on Saturday.

McDavid is listed as day-to-day and the injury is said to be minor but the Oilers will certainly be cautious with their best player as the playoffs are right around the corner. Knoblauch said that McDavid is questionable for Wednesday’s game when the Oilers will host the Vegas Golden Knights.

Following the game against Vegas, the Oilers will have five games left in their regular season schedule. They’ll host the Arizona Coyotes and Vancouver Canucks for a back-to-back on Friday and Saturday, the San Jose Sharks will come to Edmonton the following Monday, and the Oilers will wrap things up on the road with a back-to-back against the Arizona Coyotes and Colorado Avalanche.

The Oilers are still in a position to potentially catch the Canucks and move into first place in the Pacific Division with a strong finish to the regular season. Doing so would guarantee them home-ice advantage through the first two rounds of the playoffs but pushing for positioning isn’t worth McDavid potentially suffering a more serious injury.

Over 74 games played this season, McDavid has 31 goals along with a career-high 99 assists. He’s in third place in the league in scoring with 130 points and will likely become just the fourth player in NHL history to record 100 assists in a single season.