Kris Knoblauch is sticking with the nuclear option Tuesday night in St. Louis: Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the same line.
And while the most-recent result putting the Edmonton Oilers' two best players on an even-strength forward unit didn’t go as planned – a 4-3 loss Saturday at home to the Toronto Maple Leafs – head coach Knoblauch said Tuesday he thought the Oilers' effort “was probably one of our strongest games” five-on-five.
“Over the course of the season, I think we’re probably best having those two on separate lines, but there are times when I think it’s good that they do get to play together,” Knoblauch told media after the morning skate.
Tuesday’s 6 p.m. MT game against the Blues (24-25-4, 10th in Western Conference) will mark the seventh time McDavid, a five-time National Hockey League scoring champion and three-time most-valuable player, and Draisaitl, who leads the NHL in goals (36) and is second in points (77), will start a game together on a line.
Knoblauch said the Oilers (32-16-4, 3rd in West) will “stick to the game plan ... they’ve been doing all year long” despite coming off a pair of rare back-to-back losses and a 6-3-1 record in their last 10 games.
“I don’t think we necessarily played bad,” he said of the recent home-ice swoon, which included a shootout loss Thursday to the Detroit Red Wings and come-from-behind wins over the Seattle Kraken and Buffalo Sabres. “I think we’ve had some bad periods, but overall, we’ve been playing some decent hockey.”
Refined points
• Mattias Ekholm is slated to return to the Oilers blueline against the Blues after missing Saturday’s game due to an illness;
• Kasperi Kapanen, whom the Oilers claimed off waivers in November from the Blues, will play his 500th career NHL game in St. Louis;
• The Blues have slotted Nick Leddy onto their third defensive pairing after the 33-year-old veteran of 1,015 NHL games missed the last 49 games with a lower-body injury. He will replace Tyler Tucker, who was injured Sunday against Utah.
• The Oilers head into St. Louis’s Enterprise Center with a 14-7-2 record in road games. The Blues have an 11-13-1 record at home.
Projected lineups
Oilers
Forward
• Leon Draisaitl • Connor McDavid • Corey Perry
• Viktor Arvidsson • Ryan Nugent-Hopkins • Zach Hyman
• Jeff Skinner • Adam Henrique • Kasperi Kapanen
• Vasily Podkolzin • Mattias Janmark • Connor Brown
Defence
• Mattias Ekholm • Evan Bouchard
• Darnell Nurse • John Klingberg
• Brett Kulak • Ty Emberson
Goal
• Stuart Skinner • Calvin Pickard
Blues
Forward
• Pavel Buchnevich • Robert Thomas • Jordan Kyrou
• Dylan Holloway • Brayden Schenn • Alexandre Texier
• Jake Neighbours • Oskar Sundqvist • Zack Bolduc
• Alexey Toropchenko • Radek Faksa • Nathan Walker
Defence
• Cam Fowler • Colton Parayko
• Philip Broberg • Justin Faulk
• Ryan Suter • Nick Leddy
Goal
• Jordan Binnington • Joel Hofer
