The Edmonton Oilers may not have forward Zach Hyman in the lineup Tuesday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs, but the good news is that Hyman shouldn’t miss much action.
“Hyman is day-to-day, better response that we thought coming out of the other night. He’s not been ruled out of tomorrow night yet, but he didn’t skate today,” head coach Dave Tippett said Monday. “We’ll see where he is in the morning.
“He came in yesterday morning and was feeing much better than he anticipated he would. Today was another step forward. He didn’t want to be counted out yet. We’ll certainly be careful with him.”
Hyman was crunched into boards by Brady Skjei with just over three minutes remaining in Saturday’s loss to Carolina. He didn’t play another shift and appeared to be favouring his right shoulder.
The Oilers are close to getting some other injured players back. Defenceman Duncan Keith could play against the Leafs. Goalie Mike Smith won’t suit up but is on the verge of a return. He’s been out since Oct. 19. Defenceman Slater Koekkoek took part in his first practice since being injured Nov. 18.
Having lost five in a row, the Oilers focused on quick puck movement during Monday’s practice.
“You’re just trying to get up and going here. Some of these games — we’ve been bringing a lot of trouble on ourselves with execution,” explained Tippett. “We’re trying to get people up and down the ice, get them feeling the puck, try to build some confidence back in our game.”
“In my opinion, speed of the game is always how fast you move the puck,” added Leon Draisaitl. “Every team has really fast skaters, but if you can’t move the puck really quick up the ice, your speed doesn’t really do that much.”
With Hyman not available, Zack Kassian practiced on a line with Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins centred Warren Foegele and Jesse Puljujarvi. Kailer Yamamoto was moved to the third line with Devin Shore and Ryan McLeod.
The Oilers and Leafs will be on 630 CHED Tuesday with the Face-off Show at 5:30 p.m. The game starts at 7 p.m.
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