Edmonton Oilers’ young line will get another chance to shine Tuesday night

After a big night in Calgary, the Edmonton Oilers line of Tyler Benson, Ryan McLeod and Kailer Yamamoto will be together again Tuesday night for a pre-season game in Vancouver.

“That group of three has been quite good. They deserve another night,” head coach Todd McLellan said. “They’ve all played back-to-back games in their careers in their own leagues. Now they’re doing it at the National Hockey League level. There’s a physical test, a strenuous test. We’ll see how they handle that both physically and mentally.”

Benson and McLeod each had two assists against the Flames on Monday night. Yamamoto, who shone in last year’s pre-season, had two goals and an assist. He turns 20 on Sept. 29 and is someone the Oilers will be looking to for offence whenever he makes the jump to the NHL.

“I think the scoring comes after doing a whole bunch of things. Scoring comes after the forecheck, the tenacity, the read, the react, the effort, putting yourself in a position to score,” said McLellan.

Cam Talbot will play the first two periods against the Canucks with Al Montoya getting the final frame.

“It’s nice to have a goaltender to go in, have a little chance to warm-up, and to get prepared to play, versus going in halfway through a period. That’s what the goaltender coaches recommended. That’s how we’re going to do it,” McLellan explained.

Monday in Calgary, new goalie Mikko Koskinen looked shaky, allowing three goals on 19 shots. With a $2.5 million contract, Koskinen is expected to be a solid back-up to Talbot, but he didn’t look the part against the Flames.

“Goaltenders take a little while to find their games,” McLellan said. “We expect him to rebound. We expect him to get better, to get more comfortable. I think sometimes when you come in with that much pressure, you play like you want to win the Stanley Cup that night. I think the next night he comes out, hopefully he relaxes a little bit and things go a little better for him.’

The Oilers expected lineup in Vancouver is:

Khaira – Strome – Puljujarvi

Caggiula – Brodziak – Kassian

Safin – Marody – Rattie

Benson – McLeod – Yamamoto

Garrison – Benning

Jones – K. Russell

Lowe – Jerabek

Talbot

Montoya

Catch the game on 630 CHED with the Face-off Show at 6:30 p.m. The game starts at 8:30 p.m.