EDMONTON, AB – The Edmonton Oilers will use the same lineup from their defeat on home ice earlier this week, while goaltender Calvin Pickard will get the start between the pipes on Thursday night in a rematch against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Place.
Captain Connor McDavid will be serving the second game of his three-game suspension on Thursday as a result of his cross-check to the head of Canucks winger Conor Garland during their last meeting at Rogers Arena this past Saturday in Vancouver.
The Oilers went 0-for-3 with the man advantage in their first game without McDavid, and Head Coach Kris Knoblauch is expecting to see his team adjust their power play further without him in the lineup tonight for another tilt against their Pacific Division rivals, who come into Edmonton for the first time this season.
“I don’t think it’s a complicated process,” Knoblauch said. “McDavid’s not on the power play. We assigned somebody to take that spot. Maybe who has the puck and what the play is going to be out on the power play, but five on five, everybody has different linemates. So I don’t think so. I think it’s just looking into it more. Everyone’s playing their game, but it’s just more responsibility for those guys to step up and to play.”
“Moving the puck faster, but also guys moving their feet a little bit more. I think it was a little stiff and stagnant and it just didn’t create very much.”
Forward Connor Brown says it’s intrinsic for the Oilers to try and continue to adapt without their captain, and despite losing 3-2 to the Capitals, they feel they’re in a good spot after allowing only 11 even-strength shots to the league leaders on Tuesday.
“I think when you have a player of that calibre, it’s not like he comes out of the lineup and somebody steps in for his place. I think it just comes down to our team play, and I think that’s what we’ve done a good job of building,” Brown said.
“So for us tonight, and when we’re missing him, it’s just focusing on how we play as a group and making sure every guy kind of brings their ‘A’ game to the table.”
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