Fresh off a 5-4 win over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night, the Edmonton Oilers hit the ice for a Monday skate ahead of their game against the Buffalo Sabres.

There were some changes in the bottom-six, as Jeff Skinner slid into the lineup on the third line, bumping Mattias Janmark to the middle of the ice with Connor Brown on their other wing. Kasperi Kapanen appears to be a healthy scratch, while we have the Duck Hunting line on the fourth, with three former Anaheim Ducks: Max Jones, Adam Henrique and Corey Perry.

But the most notable change, as highlighted by Oilers radio man Bob Stauffer, is on the blue line, where Jake Walman will skate on the top pairing alongside Evan Bouchard with Mattias Ekholm and John Klingberg still out of the lineup.

Walman made his debut alongside Darnell Nurse on Saturday, looking great doing so. He was second in ice-time on the team against the Stars, scoring an assist, taking three shots on goal on five attempts, blocking three shots and laying two hits. It was quite the night from an individual perspective, but his pairing with Nurse was dominant against a very deep Dallas club.

With them on the ice together at five-on-five, Walman and Nurse controlled 73.33 percent of the shot attempt share, 78.95 percent of the scoring chance share and a staggering 87.23 percent of the expected goal share, all the while outscoring the Stars 2-0. Not a bad day in the office.

Walman and Bouchard together should be able to post dominant possession numbers against the Sabres Monday night, and will likely see much of their ice-time with the Connor McDavid line. That’s status quo for Bouchard, who has played over 60 percent of his five-on-five ice-time with 97.

Monday’s game is an early one, starting at 5:00 PM MT, with the three other games the Oilers are set to play on this four-game road trip having early starts, too. They’ll visit the New Jersey Devils on Thursday (5:30 PM MT), the New York Islanders Friday (5:30 PM MT) and the New York Rangers on Sunday (5:00 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.