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McDavid’s nightmare week continues with ugly-looking injury

Update: Breathe a sigh of relief, Edmonton Oilers fans.

The team announced that Connor McDavid’s X-ray came back negative, and he’ll travel back with the Oilers. He’ll then get an MRI in Edmonton. This doesn’t mean that McDavid avoided an injury altogether - later updates could bring word of structural damage, which would arguably be worse news than a break - but it’s promising news at the moment.

For those who were especially worried, seeing the actual tweet might provide comfort.

(The Oilers beat the Flames 3-1 on Saturday, by the way.)
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The Edmonton Oilers’ season could have ended with at least one great headline, as Leon Draisaitl scored his 50th goal of 2018-19. Unfortunately, the good has almost always been accompanied by the bad for Edmonton lately, and a scary fall for Connor McDavid has people fearing for the worst.

Amateur lip-readers are wondering what McDavid said (at the 24-second mark of the Sportsnet video above) while he was being attended to after a hard, scary-looking crash into the Flames’ net on Saturday. Some wonder if McDavid said “it’s broke.”

What we don’t need to wonder is that McDavid indeed needed help off of the ice, and didn’t appear to put any weight on his left leg while he was being helped off. With this being the final game of the Oilers’ season, it would be surprising if the team played it too coy here, but it also might take a while to learn more.

As inept as the Oilers have seemed for ... years now, it would be tough to imagine them allowing McDavid back into this meaningless game for Edmonton, particularly since Draisaitl got 50. But we’re talking about the Oilers here, and also a prideful player in McDavid, who likely is difficult to argue off of the ice.

Either way, this continues a brutal finish to a brutal season, for the Oilers and particularly for McDavid.

Earlier this week, McDavid made what were - by the standards of his often milquetoast quotes - alarming comments while addressing frustrations from this failed season. Now there’s at least some concern that McDavid might need to rehab an injury as the Oilers embark on what could be the most important summer of decisions in team history, or at least in decades.

Even if this ends up being a mere scare, it’s another painful chapter in a lousy season for McDavid.

James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.