Game Day 14 Oilers vs Vegas
This in from Edmonton sports commentator Tom Gazzola: “Looks like Connor McDavid will make his return to the lineup tonight against Vegas. He’ll have Jeff Skinner & Zach Hyman on his wings. The captain working on faceoffs with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Mark Stuart at morning skate.”
And TSN’s Ryan Rishaug: “McDavid skating on a line with Hyman and Skinner. Draisaitl line remains the same, but RNH now centering Henrique and Brown. Odd, based on this looks like 97 would be in. Unless they’re just doing this for the skate.”
And Tony Brar from Oilers TV: “Nugent-Hopkins will be centering his own line tonight. Knoblauch going with McDavid, Draisaitl, RNH & Ryan down the middle.”
Brar reported the lines as:
Skinner – McDavid – Hyman
Podkolzin – Draisaitl – Arvidsson
Henrique – RNH – Brown
Janmark – Ryan – Perry
Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Stecher
Kulak – Emberson/Dermott
Skinner
Pickard
My take
1. Excellent news. And I Iike these new lines. RNH has been struggling, so no harm in putting him in a different role and seeing if that works. I also like the idea of putting a hot shooter like Jeff Skinner up with McDavid and Hyman. The problem with Skinner playing with Leon Draisaitl and Viktor Arvidsson is that both of them are also major shooters of the puck, and having three on one line doesn’t seem to work. On the top line, McDavid always acts as a distributor of the puck, while Hyman goes to the net. I can see Skinner meshing.
2. This might just be my own public gripe, but I can’t see sitting Noah Philp in favour of Corey Perry or Derek Ryan. Philp brings more to the table just now than the veterans do.
3. The Oilers won two of the three games without McDavid. Much credit to Leon Draisaitl, who is playing the best two-way hockey of his career right now.
Staples on politics
At the Cult of Hockey
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