McDavid day to day for Oilers with lower-body injury, may miss ...

EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid has a lower-body injury and could miss the Edmonton Oilers’ home game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday (8:30 p.m. ET; TNT, MAX, TVAS, SN1, SNE, SNO, SNW, SCRIPPS).

“We’ll find out (the severity) tomorrow, definitely the weekend, but it’s day to day,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said Tuesday. “There is a chance [he doesn’t play]. He’s day to day. It’s a maintenance thing.”

The center missed practice for the second straight day Tuesday after he had two assists in a 4-2 win at the Calgary Flames on Saturday. McDavid’s last shift of the game lasted 33 seconds, concluding at 17:19 of the third period. He went to the bench after taken down by Flames forward Blake Coleman while driving to the net.

“It’ll be in Connor’s hands; he’ll make the decision on how he feels,” Knoblauch said when asked who will decide if McDavid can play. “We don’t know how bad the injury is and we don’t know how early he can come in. He has the best feel of what’s best for him.”

The Oilers (47-24-5) are second in the Pacific Division, five points behind the first-place Vancouver Canucks and six points ahead of the third-place Los Angeles Kings. The Golden Knights hold the second wild card in the West, one point behind the Kings.

“Obviously we’re looking long term and we’re being protective,” Knoblauch said. “But ultimately he knows how he feels and we’ll have that discussion with him tomorrow morning and we’ll find out if this is a game that we should have him playing in. He might say yes, he might say no, he may need another day or two and we’ll decide then.”

McDavid is third in the race for the Art Ross Trophy, which goes to the player with the most points in the regular season. He has 130 points (31 goals, 99 assists), trailing Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche, who has 133 points (48 goals, 85 assists) and Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who has 136 points (43 goals, 93 assists). McDavid has 24 points (six goals, 18 assists) in his past 11 games.

Edmonton recalled forward Dylan Holloway from Bakersfield of the American Hockey League on Tuesday. Holloway has four points (three goals, one assist) in 32 NHL games this season.

“The most important thing is playoffs and that we are ready,” Knoblauch said. “I think we’ve got depth. Obviously you’re not going to replace Connor, but we do have other healthy bodies when we’re short a man. We want to make sure we’re as healthy as possible going into playoffs.”

McDavid missed two games after sustaining an upper-body injury during a 3-2 overtime loss against the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 21. He returned to play against the Flames in the 2023 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic Oct. 29, when he had an assist in a 5-2 win at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.

“I think Connor probably has the most influence on what happens and (head athletic therapist) T.D. (Forss) would know how he can handle it or the risk of making it worse or playing through it and deciding between those two,” Knoblauch said. “I guess I’m the one who ultimately makes the decision whether he goes in the lineup. I’ll be getting that information mostly from those two important guys.”