Oilers forward Kane has broken ribs, insider says; Kostin misses game against Penguins

Evander Kane's bad-luck season now includes broken ribs on top of a gruesome sliced-wrist injury, according to a TSN insider.

The Oilers forward is expected to miss his third-straight game Thursday night in Pittsburgh and it's not clear when he'll be back, Darren Dreger told Dustin Nielson on TSN 1260.

"It's a bit up in the air. I mean, what we learned is that he's dealing with broken ribs. I think it had been out there for a bit in your market, Dusty, that it was something rib related that he'd been hampered by," Dreger said.

He added it's not clear when the injury happened, but Kane was listed by the team as day-to-day with an "upper-body injury" on Feb. 19.

The big power forward missed nearly 10 weeks earlier in the season when his wrist was cut "down to the bone" by an opponent's skate blade in Tampa Bay on Nov. 8.

He returned on Jan. 17, but was absent from Sunday's game against Colorado and Tuesday's game against Philadelphia.

"He's been playing through it for the last couple of weeks. I think anybody who has suffered a rib injury knows how painful that is. So it's somewhat up in the air, but I don't get the sense that it's going to be long just given the fact that he's played through it," Dreger said.

Kane signed a four-year, $20.5 million contract with the Oilers in July. He has nine goals and 10 assists in 24 games this year.

Forward Klim Kostin was back on the ice for a pregame skate Thursday morning. He missed three games with an illness.

Kostin did not end up playing despite skating on a line with Devin Shore and Mattias Janmark earlier in the day.

Superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl skated on a top line together. They are the top scorers in the NHL with 105 and 85 points, respectively.

Stuart Skinner will start in net. He stopped 24 of 26 shots in the 4-2 win over Philadelphia.

The rookie goalie said he's looking forward to playing against Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby for the first time.

"I saw him at the All-Star Game and was able to say hi, so it kinda lets my nerves go off easy. It's going to be a lot of fun, hopefully he gets a couple shots so I can say that I stopped Sidney Crosby," Skinner said with a smile.

The Oilers (31-19-8) face off against the Penguins (27-20-9) shortly after 5 p.m. MT.