Edmonton Oilers’ Darnell Nurse’s injury revealed to be torn hip flexor

While it seemed clear that Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse played through an injury this postseason, he revealed the specifics after Game 4, saying that he had a torn hip flexor.

Daily Faceoff’s own Frank Seravalli reported back on May 19 that his sources indicated Nurse was suffering from a core muscle injury which may require surgery, and that was revealed to be true with a torn hip flexor.

In the wake of the Oilers getting swept by the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Final, Nurse mentioned in a postgame interview that he suffered the injury in the final week of the regular season and played through it in all three playoff rounds.

“Our medical staff… taped it up, gave me some anti-inflamms and away you go,” Nurse said. “There’s no excuse when you get to this point in the season. You want to be on your game and play at a certain level. There’s no excuse. Everyone’s banged up this time of year. And myself personally, I wanted to be better in this series. It’s just added motivation for summer to come back and be a difference-maker next year.”

Nurse’s effectiveness was a big talking point in the postseason, particularly in this series – on whether or not the Oilers would have been better off sitting him and putting a healthy defenseman in. As their playoff run comes to an end, he finishes with two goals and six points in 15 games, as well as a 47.59 percent shot attempt share and 50.35 percent expected goal share at even strength, despite dealing with the injury and playing against top competition. That said, Nurse ended up on the ice for 27 of the Oilers’ 59 goals against during their playoff run and 12 of the Avalanche’s 22 goals in their four-game series.