Oilers’ Evander Kane will play in Game 2 of Stanley Cup Final

Edmonton Oilers forward Evander Kane is expected to play in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers on Monday.

Kane will play tonight. pic.twitter.com/uW5qol9vYw

— Jack Michaels (@EdmontonJack) June 10, 2024

Kane was injured in the Western Conference Final Game 6 win against the Dallas Stars on June 2. But since then, it has been nothing but speculation regarding both his injury and his status.

Kane announced in April that he had been playing through a sports hernia throughout the regular season.

“I’ve been dealing with a sports hernia kind of all year,” he told reporters. “It was just getting worse and worse, so I thought it would be good to take a week off for the playoffs and see how I feel.”

He clearly felt good enough, because Kane has not missed a game during the Oilers’ run to the Stanley Cup Final. The 32-year-old forward has eight points (four goals, four assists) in 19 playoff games. But after scoring goals in both Game 5 and Game 6 of the second-round series against the Vancouver Canucks, he has been held to just one assist in the past eight games.

While we have no confirmation on what is ailing him, Kane certainly benefited from the break between games following the Western Conference Final. After winning Game 6 against Dallas, Edmonton had six days to get ready for the Final.

Kane spoke about the personal importance of this rest time on NHL Network last week:

“Usually, I’d be the one complaining about all this time off between series, but this time I was very happy about it. It’s been really good for me to have a week off before game one, and hopefully, I’ll be ready to go.”

Kane did play in Game 1 of the Final on Saturday, finishing minus-1 with 15:22 of ice time in a 3-0 loss to Florida. And he will be in the lineup again as the Oilers look to even the series in Game 2 from Sunrise on Monday.