Rattie reunited with RNH and McDavid as Edmonton Oilers host Coyotes

Ty Rattie will go from being a healthy scratch to being on the Edmonton Oilers top line when they host the Arizona Coyotes Saturday night.

Rattie didn’t play in Thursday’s 4-3 shootout win over Florida, but at Saturday’s morning skate he was on a line with Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

“Just take advantage of the opportunity that’s at hand,” said Rattie. “You have to do anything you can to help the team win. If you don’t, they’ll find someone else. There are a lot of other players who want to be in that spot.”

“I’m going to that combination for the first shift. We’ll see how it works,” said head coach Ken Hitchcock. “The four guys are interchangeable. Chiasson, Draisaitl, Nuge, and Connor are interchangeable. We’ll see how it looks. If it looks proper, we’ll keep going with it. If not, we’ll make changes right away.”

The Oilers, 21-20-3, have been outshot 13 of their last 14 games. On Thursday, they had only 18 regulation time shots against the Panthers.

“We can get better at the second and third chances,” said centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “That’s where you start to put more shots up on the shot clock. Get one shot from the point, then we have to find a way to get that puck back and start banging away and get other opportunities.”

The Oilers expected lineup is:

Nugent-Hopkins – McDavid – Rattie

Lucic – Draisaitl – Chiasson

Spooner – Khaira – Puljujarvi

Rieder – Brodziak – Kassian

Nurse – Russell

Jones – Larsson

Gravel – Benning

Talbot

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