After Monday’s disastrous 6-1 loss to the Florida Panthers, one thing was clear: something needed to change for the Edmonton Oilers going into Game 4.
Now, we’re getting our first glimpse at head coach Kris Knoblauch’s lineup swaps for Thursday night’s contest. At morning skate, veteran forward Jeff Skinner slotted in for Viktor Arvidsson, while Troy Stecher took John Klingberg’s place on the blue line. These are expected to be the changes going into Game 4.
The @EdmontonOilers morning skate:
RNH-McDavid-Brown
Kane-Draisaitl-Kapanen
J. Skinner-Henrique-Frederic
Podkolzin-Janmark-Perry
Kulak-Bouchard
Nurse-Stecher
Ekholm-Walman
Skinner
— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) June 12, 2025
Arvidsson had a decent start to the series with a goal and an assist through the first two games against the Panthers, but ended up playing limited minutes in Game 3’s blowout loss. Overall, the 32-year-old Swede has seven points in 14 games through his first postseason appearance with the Oilers.
Jeff Skinner, meanwhile, slots in, having become a story to watch this year. At 33 years old, the Toronto native finally made his playoff debut this year in his 15th NHL season, only to be scratched after playing just one game. Now with two total appearances, he has a goal and an assist, and is looking to keep that point streak alive as he makes his Stanley Cup Final debut.
On the blue line, Stecher is set to make his first Cup Final appearance as well, playing alongside Darnell Nurse. The 31-year-old hasn’t registered a point through six games played these playoffs so far, but has solid and consistent defensive numbers overall.
Klinberg will sit out Game 4 after a poor showing on Monday, where he played just under 18 minutes, especially low when you consider both Nurse and Mattias Ekholm were ejected from the game. He finished worst on the team with a -3 and overall looked off his game as he bungled a number of key plays.
With these changes, the Oilers are hoping they can bounce back on Thursday night and prove that Monday was just a misstep, with a chance to even up the series as they head back to Edmonton for Game 5 Saturday night. However, it will take more than these small tweaks to the roster to fix what went wrong on Monday, as the whole team is now challenged to step up in this all-important contest, lest they fall in the Final to Florida for another year.