The Edmonton Oilers’ two biggest starts will be on the same line Thursday night against the Los Angeles Kings. (630 CHED Face-off Show at 6 p.m., game at 8 p.m.).
It’s been a strategy rarely deployed by head coach Jay Woodcroft, but he’ll unite Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl with the Oilers facing elimination.
“It was what we went to in the third period of last game. I thought they controlled the game and were a big reason why we were able to push it to overtime,” said Woodcroft.
Draisaitl scored twice and McDavid once in the third on Tuesday as the Oilers came back from 3-1 down to force overtime at 4-4. The Kings wound up winning.
The Oilers will once again try to come out of the gate stronger. They’ve been outplayed in the first periods of this season, having been outshot by an average of 17-9.4 in the opening 20 minutes.
“It’s just starting on time. Sometimes games just fly by quick and you look at the clock and there’s five minutes left in the third,” said defenceman Brett Kulak.
“It’s utilizing those first couple shifts. Even if your legs feel a little heavy, sprint in a couple areas. Get your legs going. Get the blood pumping. Set the next line up for a good shift.”
The Oilers expected lineup is:
Draisaitl – McDavid – Yamamoto
Kane – Nugent-Hopkins – Hyman
Archibald – McLeod – Puljujarvi
Foegele – Ryan – Kassian
Kulak – Ceci
Keith – Bouchard
Russell – Barrie
Smith
Defenceman Darnell Nurse will miss the game after being slapped with a one-game suspension for head-butting Phillip Danault in Game 5. Philip Broberg has been called up from the minors.