We don’t know the extent of Adam Henrique’s injury, but coach Kris Knoblauch said enough on Tuesday to confirm that the 36-year-old will be unavailable for Game 2. Which leads to the question: does Knoblauch want to give Josh Samanski an opportunity, or does he go for Curtis Lazar, who’s played 30 career playoff games?

It might be both.

Jason Dickinson did not take part in morning skate on Wednesday. The multi-goal scorer in Game 1 was questionable to play in the series opener, but prevailed for a two-goal performance. However, in the second period, he fell awkwardly to the ice in pain. He is officially questionable for tonight’s game.

That means Samanski is expected in tonight’s lineup in the fourth line centre role. If Dickinson doesn’t play, Lazar is in, likely as a third-line winger with Nugent-Hopkins as the third-line centre.

“We’ve been very happy with him all year. We anticipated him being an Oiler in the future. We weren’t really expecting it to be so fast,” said coach Kris Knoblauch on Samanski.

In 24 games, Samanski scored two goals and four points, but proved to be a defensively responsible piece.

“I’d be excited. Obviously, it would be special. I’m not really a nervous guy. Would just be happy to get out there,” said Samanski.

“It’s not easy for the coach to trust the young guy, especially since I played in the DEL last year and not sure what to expect. But our staff and my teammates did a great job helping me adjust.”

The Oilers

Matthew Savoie – Connor McDavid – Zach Hyman

Vasily Podkolzin – Leon Draisaitl – Kasperi Kapanen

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Curtis Lazar* – Jack Roslovic

Colton Dach – Josh Samanski – Trent Frederic

Mattias Ekholm – Evan Bouchard

Darnell Nurse – Connor Murphy

Jake Walman – Ty Emberson

Connor Ingram

*Jason Dickinson questionable

Samanski seemed to be gelling with Colton Dach and Trent Frederic on his wings in the last two regular season games. What Henrique’s absence meant was inconsistent shifts for the fourth line wingers, who tried to make the most of their minutes in Game 1. Dach levelled seven hits in 8:40, while Frederic had three in 8:33, but there wasn’t much opportunity to get the pair out for time.

Jason Dickinson missed a couple of minutes in the second period, which compromised the centre depth even further. And with the Oilers overall play suffering in the second period, there was less time for the Bash Brothers.

“There was lot of mixing,” said Knoblauch. “It was tough to really evaluate how every line went, because we lost Rico [Henrique] very early in the game and the lines weren’t rolling together.”

Another impact meant Matt Savoie didn’t kill either of the two penalties. Savoie is Henrique’s usual PK partner, but Knoblauch prefers to keep forward pairs together. That meant Savoie sat, while Dickinson-Kapanen and McDavid-Nugent-Hopkins ate the minutes.

The longer Game 1 went along, the more restricted Ty Emberson’s minutes became. He took just three shifts in the third period and finished with just 10:20. During the regular season, he averaged 15:31.

This was Emberson’s 10th career playoff game, a sheltered option during the 2024-25 Stanley Cup Final run. With that in mind, this was actually Emberson’s third highest TOI total.

The Ducks

Chris Kreider – Leo Carlsson – Frank Vatrano* (Troy Terry maintenance*)

Alex Killorn – Mikael Granlund– Beckett Sennecke

Mason McTavish – Ryan Poehling– Cutter Gauthier

Jeffrey Veil – Tim Washe – Ian Moore

Jackson LaCombe – Jacob Trouba

Pavel Mintyukov – John Carlson

Tyson Hinds – Drew Helleson* (Radko Gudas*)

Lukas Dostal

Troy Terry and Radko Gudas did not participate in morning skate, according to Zach Cavanagh of the Sporting Tribune. Terry has often be taking maintenance days and not skating on gamedays.

If Gudas is unable to play, Drew Helleson will draw in beside Tyson Hinds. Helleson played 60 games this season, his fifth year of pro hockey. The former second-round pick 2019 scored two goals and 15 points. That pair would be green in terms of experience. Hinds has played just seven NHL games in his career.

‘It wasn’t enough’

The Ducks are smarting after a tough loss in Game 1 where they accomplished a lot of good things, but also made a lot of “preventable” mistakes.

But Leo Carlsson is getting the opportunity to showcase his talent on a bigger stage in the playoffs. Forced to miss the Olympics because of a left thigh lesion, the third-year centre had a goal and an assist in his playoff debut, and looked every bit of a star in the making. His line with Troy Terry and Chris Kreider created several opportunities and factored in on both even-strength goals.

It’s safe to say Carlsson adjusted pretty quickly.

“First five minutes felt like a playoff game,” Carlsson said. “Then it was just kind of not exactly the same thing, but also didn’t feel like a first playoff game either. Good second period, but it wasn’t enough.”

For one shift, the start of the second period, Mason McTavish played in Kreider’s spot, and they scored a goal and created numerous turnovers. Joel Quenneville only used that trio for a total of 1:40, though, as McTavish spent most of the game with Ryan Poehling and Cutter Gauthier.

The unsung heroes were the fourth line of Tim Washe, Jeffrey Viel, and defenceman, converted forward, Ian Moore. On multiple occasions, Quenneville put out the trio for a defensive zone faceoff knowing McDavid was likely to hop over the boards. They had a disallowed goal in the first period and combined for 10 hits.

Crowd jeering ‘fun’

A welcome to the playoffs moment came for Lukas Dostal, who heard his name being chanted by the Oilers’ faithful at Rogers Place. Or did he?

“I knew they were chanting something but I wasn’t sure if it was my name or something else,” he said on Tuesday, but he’s taking it as a sign of respect. “It feels great. Obviously, they chant so I’ll make some mistake. It’s part of it. It’s fun. These are the moments you just have to soak in and enjoy as well.”

Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and co-host of PreGaming and Oilersnation After Dark. He’s also been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years of news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, Menzies collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues. Follow him on X at Menzies_4.

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