"He's a warrior": Injured Oilers blueliner Nurse struggling against Avalanche

Ron Chenoy/USA TODAY Sports

There’s no disputing Darnell Nurse is the most important piece of the Edmonton Oilers’ blue line.

There’s also no doubting that an injury has significantly hampered his effectiveness in the Western Conference Final against the Colorado Avalanche.

And it’s showing.

“He’s giving us everything he has,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “He’s giving us everything he has. He’s a true warrior and as a team, we can be better.”

Edmonton trails Colorado 2-0 in the best-of-7 series after a pair of tough outings for Nurse and the Oilers.

He was on the ice for four of eight goals in the series opener and had just two hits in 20:05 of ice time. He was also third-last in Corsi For Percentage at 38.46%, and dead last in expected goals for percentage at 27.27%, meaning there’s an overwhelming chance that the next goal scored is coming off a Colorado stick, according to Natural Stat Trick.

There wasn’t much in the way of improvement from Nurse in Game 2, either. He was on the ice for three of four goals against — all coming in a disastrous two-minute span early in the second period. His Corsi For Percentage actually rose to a more respectable 48.84%, but an expected goals for percentage of 35.32% was less than flattering.

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Combined, he’s been on the ice for seven of 12 goals against in the series. Six have been at even strength.

Game 3s results will be determined when the series shifts to home ice on Saturday, an opportunity to provide Nurse with some extra shelter and an easier workload when considering matchups against the Avalanche’s top units.

Because, generally, Nurse has been pretty good.

He was only on the ice for 10 even-strength goals against in the 12 games it took to dispatch of the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames, respectively, in the opening two rounds of the series, matching his more regular pacing from the regular season.

It’ll be important to find that formula again, and for the Oilers to offer a little bit of relief for the blueliner who averages a team-leading 21:09 of ice time among defencemen.

In other words, there’s no understating how valuable Nurse is to the back end.

And they need him to have a chance.

Your best players, after all, have to be your best players at this time of year.

“I know myself personally, I didn’t do that well enough and as a team, we can do that a lot better,” Nurse said after Game 1. “Just being aware of their speed, where it’s coming from, reading through the play. They’re a good team. They’re going to create lots of offense. They have some special players.

“We’re going to be better.”