The Edmonton Oilers are in a rut and Kris Knoblauch has brought out the blender.
After dropping both games of a back-to-back in Philadelphia and Washington over the weekend, the Oilers are on a season-high three-game losing skid. Their next three games are against contending teams, starting with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night, so the team is desperate to stop the bleeding.
According to Tony Brar of Oilers TV, Viktor Arvidsson and Zach Hyman will move from playing with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as their centre to the top line with Connor McDavid. Vasily Podkolzin and Kasperi Kapanen played with McDavid on Sunday during Edmonton’s loss to the Capitals and the trio was largely invisible.
Podkolzin will be on Leon Draisaitl’s wing along with rookie Matthew Savoie when the Oilers play Tampa on Tuesday. The bottom-six will see Janmark and Connor Brown with Nugent-Hopkins while Kapanen plays alongside veterans Adam Henrique and Corey Perry.
Drawing the short stick among Edmonton’s forwards is Jeff Skinner, who will be a healthy scratch for the first time since late January. Kapanen was scratched against the Flyers and Janmark was out against the Capitals, so this could be more about keeping players fresh rather than Skinner’s performance.
Since the calendar flipped to January, Skinner has been one of Edmonton’s most productive forwards. The skilled winger has five goals and nine points over 15 games in that span and is tied for second on the team in terms of on-ice goal differential at even strength at 9-to-4.
It seemed that Skinner was poised to get some playing time in the team’s top-six after he scored a goal and two points playing with Leon Draisaitl during a win over the Chicago Blackhawks. During the 4 Nations Face-Off break, the Oilers called up Matthew Savoie from the Bakersfield Condors and the rookie has started his NHL career playing with Draisaitl, bumping Skinner back down to the bottom-six.
It’s not surprising that the Oilers want to give their top prospect a run with one of their two star centres before the March 7 trade deadline, though it shouldn’t come at the expense of Skinner, who’s been producing more than other wingers recently. Arvidsson and Podkolzin both only have three goals since the beginning of January but both continue to get playing time alongside McDavid and Draisaitl.
The Oilers will also make a change on their blueline, as Troy Stecher will play alongside Darnell Nurse on the second defensive pairing while John Klingberg will be a healthy scratch. Klingberg scored a goal and two points in the team’s loss to the Flyers on Saturday and was a minus-one in 19:13 against the Capitals on Sunday.
