EDMONTON

Taylor Hall will be back in the middle Tuesday against the Los Angeles Kings.

The Oilers winger has been moved to centre in the absence of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who is out with a lower body injury. Hall centred the Oilers top line between Benoit Pouliot and Jordan Eberle in a 4-0 loss to the Calgary Flames on Saturday.

“I enjoyed it last game, it would have been nice to get some production,” Hall said. “But I felt more comfortable there then I had in the past when they played me there

“I just tried to just play. I’ve played shifts during games at centre and I just tried to treat it like that. I thought I did OK, but I need to keep improving there for sure.”

Hall finished even in the loss and was 47% in the face-off circle, winning nine of 19 draws. He also hit the post on one occasion, which proved to be the Oilers best scoring chance on the night.

“I’ve played down low in parts of shifts before and I’ve played in the middle,” Hall said. “I just tried to go play hockey and I think that’s a better way to approach things. If you think of where you should be all the time and what position you want to play, you think too much, the game passes you buy. You just have to go out and play.”

Bachman back

It was a tough week for goaltender Richard Bachman, who left the team during ​their recent three-game road trip due to the sudden death of his brother, Shelby.

Bachman was back on the ice at practice with the Oilers on Monday, staying out well after its conclusion to work on his game.

Bachman could get the start against the Kings on Tuesday.

“That’s something that I’ll have to talk to (goaltending coach Dustin Schwartz) about,” said Oilers interim head coach Todd Nelson. “But that’s the way I’m leaning.”

Wishful thinking

Many Oilers fans have been excited with the Pittsburgh Penguins recent slide, believing it could benefit Edmonton in a big way.

The Oilers own the Penguins first-round pick this year, acquired in the David Perron trade. If the Penguins fail to make the playoffs, the Oilers would get another set of balls in the draft lottery.

“It’s another chip on the roulette table, you could say,” said Hall. “You don’t root for teams to lose or anything like that, but it would certainly be nice to have another shot at that No. 1 pick. You never know what can happen. We put ourselves into a situation to have a good chance, and that sucks, but at the end of the day, you want to do well in that lottery.”

Heading into Monday’s play, the Penguins are two points up on the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference wild card race, with each team having three games to play.

“Obviously everyone here is hoping for another pick in the lottery,” said Rob Klinkhammer, who was also acquired in the Perron trade. “But Pittsburgh is a good team, they’re scratching and clawing until the end. We’re just going to have to wait and see what happens.”

derek.vandiest@sunmedia.ca

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