Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson says he’s feeling good to go for Saturday night’s game against the Oilers after exiting Thursday’s game against the San Jose Sharks with a lower-body injury.

“I feel good. It’s up to Chief [Berube].” Ekman-Larsson said at morning skate on Saturday.

The injury occurred not long into the third period following a tie-up along the boards with Sharks forward Adam Gaudette. Ekman-Larsson landed awkwardly on his leg and required assistance skating off the ice while favouring his left leg. Despite the collision, the 34-year-old knows that it wasn’t a malicious play by Gaudette and says he’s lucky it wasn’t more serious.

“Obviously it happened so quick, the guy fell and obviously he didn’t mean to do that,” Ekman-Larsson said about the collision. “I was lucky to get out of it pretty quick. It’s crazy how much you can change in a day or a day and a half, so I’m lucky.”

The fact that Ekman-Larsson was made available to the media points to a return against the Oilers, and Berube said he’s happy to have his veteran defenceman back after the initial scare.

“Yeah, good news,” Berube said when asked about the quick turnaround. “We weren’t sure yesterday but he feels good and ready to go.”

Ekman-Larsson has had somewhat of a resurgence in 2024-25, with his four goals matching his total from last season in 48 fewer games. Overall, he has 20 points in 30 games and is well on pace to break his total of 29 from last season. He’s second in scoring among Leafs defencemen and sixth overall in scoring, and between him and Morgan Rielly (23 points in 29 games), the team has turned what was an area of weakness last season into a strength. He’s been skating on the top pair with Rielly since Brandon Carlo and Chris Tanev went down with injuries and resumed that role at morning skate on Saturday.

The Maple Leafs appear to have dodged a major bullet with Ekman-Larsson only missing one period of action considering the amount of pain he was in after the injury. He’ll look to help the Maple Leafs get back into the win column against the Oilers.

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