Oilers defencemen and strong work by Koskinen enough to beat Senators

Gudbranson looked like he may have stepped in for Brady Tkachuk at the draw. Kassian only played 33 seconds and he could be out 33 or more days.

Oilers coach Dave Tippett says he’s still being evaluated, which might mean he has to undergo more tests in Edmonton, so no firm timeline yet, and they haven’t said what he hurt. The team said it’s upper-body which could be his shoulder or his back. But more likely in fights, it’s your hand that takes the beating.

“It’s an unfortunate injury but you can get hurt by a shot or in a fight,” said Tippett, who put Alex Chiasson in his lineup spot Tuesday, Chiasson’s eighth game. He picked up his first point, assisting on Barrie’s goal.

While Kassian was hurt on his first shift Monday, so was Ottawa rookie D Erik Brannstrom, the kid they got in the Mark Stone (Vegas) trade. Josh Archibald checked him hard 90 seconds into the game, and while the youngster finished the game, he was sore Tuesday morning and he’s gone for a week to 10 days.

“He did a good job battling for us but after sleeping, it wasn’t nearly as good,” said Ottawa coach D.J. Smith, who already had Brannstrom quarantining for 28 days because he had come in close contact with somebody who had COVID-19.

This ‘n that: Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl’s 10-game point streaks ended with Draisaitl hitting the post with 10 seconds left and an empty net … The Zamboni may have leaked some hydraulic fluid after the first period and there was a delay to get the ice ready, starting the second … Oilers defenceman Kris Russell, who took a shot off his foot Monday but gutted it out to play 17 minutes, was out for Slater Koekkoek as Evan Bouchard’s partner. Koekkoek did yeoman work on a four-minute Sens’ powerplay in the second, blocking a shot off his right arm. Again, Caleb Jones sat for the eighth time … Devin Shore, coming off the taxi-squad, took James Neal’s spot on a line with Kyle Turris and Chiasson and got his first Oilers assist … Defenceman Ethan Bear missed his fifth straight game with possible concussion symptoms after being hit with a puck … With Kassian on LTI that means a minimum of 10 games or 24 days for that designation … Gaetan Haas remained on IR with an undisclosed issue … Joakim Nygard and Patrick Russell are languishing on the taxi-squad. Nygard has only played four games (34 total minutes) and Russell just one game.