Sunday night was a good-news, bad-news kind of night for the Edmonton Oilers. The team beat the visiting Nashville Predators in an important first game of a homestand, but they lost one of their best players in Leon Draisaitl.

For how long remains to be seen. 

Draisaitl took a hit early in the first period (after scoring Edmonton's opening goal). He went down the tunnel limping, taking several minutes to return before trying to skate on what appeared to be a less-than-healthy leg. He took one more shift near the end of the first period, before leaving the game and not returning. 

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"The medical staff looked at him, and they were comfortable with him trying it out," said Kris Knoblauch. "And he went out, and he just didn't feel quite right." When asked if there was any chance this would be a longer-term issue, "So the fact that the medical staff said, you know, it doesn't seem too bad, no immediate red flags, tells me that it shouldn't be a really long injury. "There might be some time off, but we'll find out later."

As of the post-game media availability, there was no update on Draisaitl's injury. 

Without one of their best players, Edmonton understood the assignment. Not wanting to give the two points away as they did against the St. Louis Blues in the previous game, the rest of the Oilers stepped up in his absence.

"Well, I think you saw an emotional response, which is really good, guys sticking up for Leo, one of the best players in the world. You know, if guys want to take runs at him. there's gonna be a response," said Zach Hyman, who scored the empty-net goal to seal the win for Edmonton. "Was really happy just with the collective effort, and then obviously, you want to win the game."

"When it's a player like Leon, I think it's got to be a committee of guys that step up and fill different roles and really contribute to us having success, because this is a big part in our season, and we really need to rally off some wins here and put ourselves in a good spot," said Matt Savoie. It was Savoie who got what turned out to be the game-winner on a nice two-on-one feed from Connor McDavid. 

Others like Vasily Podkolzin and Trent Frederic tried to make their impact physically. Connor McDavid was wheeling all night. It was a solid collective effort, especially on the defensive end. 

"It's what good teams do, is, you know how to win and you how to finish games off like that," said Connor Ingram. "And I think that's a huge skill to have, and something this group has."

Speaking of Ingram, after the pre-game skate, Knoblauch confirmed that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Ingram was now the Oilers' starting netminder. He was in the net as the Oilers picked up the win on Sunday, and was asked how it feels to have that kind of commitment from the coach. 

"I mean, having your coach behind you is huge," said Ingram. "But at the end of the day, my job never changes. I'm going to come in and be the same person I've been for the last three, four months. So it's exciting for me, but at the end of the day, like I've said 1000 times, it's just stop the puck. 

"He's given us good, good games.... Yeah, we need goaltending like that, and he's been solid," said Knoblauch after the win. "So yeah, our team should have a lot of confidence in him, because he's been playing well.

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