The Edmonton Oilers will be running with Jeff Skinner in the top-six against the Devils on Thursday night.

Up and down the lineup and in and out of the press box all season, Skinner is set to skate alongside Leon Draisaitl and Viktor Arvidsson.

The elevation was among other changes to the Oilers lineup after their 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres Monday night. Edmonton’s top line of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman will remain the same, while the third will see Adam Henrique centre Vasily Podkolzin and Connor Brown. The fourth line, meanwhile, will see Kasperi Kapanen continue to play up the middle, this time alongside Max Jones and Corey Perry.

The Oilers blue line remained the same — on paper — based on what they ran on Monday, despite the fact that Evan Bouchard played more ice-time with Brett Kulak than Jake Walman, and Walman spent 30 seconds of five-on-five ice-time more with Darnell Nurse than Bouchard.

Janmark missed practice due to an illness, but could be available on Thursday.

The Oilers will look to rebound against a Devils team without Jack Hughes, who underwent season-ending shoulder surgery last week. They’ve gone 2-2 in the four games since he was injured, falling to the Dallas Stars 4-3 and Winnipeg Jets 6-1, but have since rebounded, beating the Philadelphia LFyers 3-1 and Columbus Blue Jackets 5-3.

They remain in the mix for playoff positioning currenlty sitting third in the Metropolitan Division with a 35-25-6 record, a six point lead over the Blue Jackets, who hold onto the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Puck drop Thursday is an early one, set for 5:30 PM MT.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.