Sekera passes big test in first game post-injury

Edmonton Oilers defenceman Andrej Sekera needed precautionary treatment on his right knee Friday after playing his first game since early May, perhaps even a dip in an ice-cold tub. But there was a bounce in his step as he talked about returning for 16 onice minutes against the St. Louis Blues Thursday night.

His repaired body part came through the game just fine. He played 23 shifts, 13:03 evenstrength, plus 3:07 on the point of the power play. Along with being able to avoid a big jolt to the knee, he was able to turn and pivot and make decisions.

Adrenalin will do that, not to mention hockey smarts.

He never thought he was entering a freeway ramp with the speed too much for him.

“No, not really. I knew what to expect and I tried to keep it simple,” said Sekera, who’ll play his second game Saturday against the Montreal Canadiens.

“I was in a rhythm and got on the ice constantly, short shifts, 30 seconds, go hard,” he said in reference to Thursday’s game. Actually, he averaged 42 seconds a shift, but those are skewed by his power-play time.

There was no time where he was concerned about an onrushing forechecker and taking a big hit.

“You don’t think about that because it ruins the game if you’re thinking about injuries,” he explained.

His routine of getting the knee back to playing shape after taking a Ryan Getzlaf check May 5 in Anaheim was monotonous, he said, but also necessary.

Sekera said he also took a break from his rehab routine to marry longtime partner Katarina on Aug. 1.

“I didn’t have a lot of time on my hands,” he told Tim Campbell of nhl.com. “I’d come here at 8 o’clock in the morning, get ready for my rehab, do something for an hour, then skate by myself. Or when I was cleared to skate with the team, then I’d stay after and do a bit more work. A longer process than I thought, but once I got used to it, it was good.

“Injuries, rehab, they are part of the game, so you have to be positive and make sure you do all of it 100 per cent.”

1-2 PUNCH

Oilers coach Todd McLellan has taken some grief from fans (OK, media too) for playing Leon Draisaitl on Connor McDavid’s rightwing rather than having Draisaitl at centre for the league’s best tagteam 1-2 option. But, obviously sneaking the two out together with four minutes left Thursday against the Blues worked for the tying goal before teenager Jesse Puljujarvi went back on rightwing for McDavid’s next shift.

The message: He hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Sometimes putting Connor and Leon together every now and then pays off,” said McLellan. “But if we were going to three lines (in the third period) Jesse wasn’t going to be the odd-man out. I told him that on the bench.

“The last couple of weeks, Jesse’s been a real find for this hockey club. Even when Mark Letestu goes out for a right-side faceoff and Jesse comes off that line, I always tell him it’s only for the faceoff.

“He’ll be right back out there and he understands what we’re saying now. In the past when language was more of a barrier, I’m not sure he got the translation. I think he felt he was being punished,” said McLellan.