Game Day 58: Oilers vs Lightning
This in from Tony Brar of the Oilers, news that the team will sit out veteran newcomers on the wing and defence, both John Klingberg and Jeff Skinner. In place will be Troy Stecher and Mattias Janmark. In net will be Stuart Skinner.
EDM projected lineup vs. TBL:
Arvidsson – McDavid – Hyman
Podkolzin – Draisaitl – Savoie
Janmark – RNH – Brown
Kapanen – Henrique – Perry
Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Stecher
Kulak – Emberson
Skinner
My take
1. Both benchings come as something of a surprise, give that Skinner scored a goal against Washington and was one of only three or four Oilers who played solid two-way hockey. As for Klingberg, he was one of many d-men who struggled in the game, but he was one of the few who played well against Philadelphia in the weekend’s other appalling overall Oilers performance. That said Klingberg was part of an awful sequence on the fifth Caps goal, where he turned over the puck, got beat on the boards , then got passed around on the scoring play.
2. With Klingberg, the benching can be seen two ways. First, it could simply be tough love for his bad game against Washington. It could also be seen as giving Troy Stecher a chance to keep himself in the game. All told, it’s not a solid signal for Klingberg, who has been a high event player since joining the Oilers with more bad, than good. This is expected given he was off for more than a year after serious injury and surgery. But if he’s going to pick it up, it’s got to happen fast. The trade deadline is approaching and the Oilers have to decide if they need another d-man or not.
More to come…