Ekholm to return from injury for Oilers in Game 5 against Stars

DALLAS -- Mattias Ekholm will return for the Edmonton Oilers in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC).

The 35-year-old defenseman has not played because of an undisclosed injury since a 4-2 win against the San Jose Sharks on April 11. Having missed Edmonton's previous seven games, Ekholm returned to play just 1:52 over three shifts against the Sharks before leaving injured again.

"I feel like I'm ready, I feel like I can play," Ekholm said Thursday morning. "I haven't played in a while, so it'll be a bit of an adjustment, but I feel great. I don't think I'm playing 26 minutes, but I do think I'm ready to play somewhat of a normal role."

Ekholm's original injury diagnosis had him missing the entire postseason, but he returned to practice with the Oilers on May 19. Edmonton leads Dallas 3-1 in the best-of-7 series and can move on to a second consecutive showdown with the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final with a win Thursday.

"It's been a journey for sure," Ekholm said. "It's not fun, especially at playoff time, this is the first time I've been dealing with anything like this. For some reason from Day 1 since I got hurt, I had a feeling the team was going to do their part, and it was up to me to find ways to get healthy as quick as possible and I think I've done everything in my power.

"These last couple of weeks, there have been a lot of anxious moments watching the games, but I feel like there has been a lot of steady progress up until this point, so I'm really happy with that. If you look at the initial prognosis, I probably shouldn't be here, so it's a bonus that I am and I'm happy to be here."

Ekholm will take Troy Stecher's spot on defense and play alongside Evan Bouchard.

With forward Zach Hyman out for the rest of the series with an upper-body injury sustained in Game 4, Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch had the option of using 11 forwards and seven defensemen, giving Ekholm a chance to ease back to game speed, but chose to go with six defensemen in Game 5. Jeff Skinner, who has been a scratch since Game 1 of the first round, will play for Hyman.

"We know he's ready to go and we also know that we have lots of left-handed defensemen that can play big minutes," Knoblauch said of Ekholm. "I don't think there is any threat to him of his minutes being over what he should be. He's healthy and we don't have to worry about that."

Ekholm had 33 points (nine goals, 24 assists) in 65 games during the regular season. He had 10 points (five goals, five assists) in 25 playoff games last season, averaging 21:58 minutes of ice time per game.

"I'm just going to go out and play my game," Ekholm said. "If I go out there and try to play somewhat safe or whatnot, it's not going to suit us very well anyway. I'm just going to go out in the first couple of shifts and try to make the simple play, but other than that, I'm looking to play my game, that's how I've been successful in this league and that's how it's got to be."