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“It’s a lower-body injury, now, but (I) still don’t know when or where, it’s not one of those injuries that you can just say ‘hey, it was this moment or that hit’, or anything like that. He’s hanging around, he’s getting treatments. If I was putting a lineup card together I would write his name down for Washington, that’s how much I believe in him, but he and Mother Nature will dictate the pace of his return”.

What does Todd do about it? Well, Darnell Nurse is not quite yet ready to go. So Eric Gryba will draw back into the lineup. There was no pre-game skate this morning, so the lines and parings below are a combination of what Coach McLellan said at his media avail, and me reading in between the lines. I expect the four best (remaining healthy) D-men will get a push, as per the below. But in the second of back-to-back road games, McLellan will be forced to slot Davidson and Gryba in regularly. Gryba also tends to be effective killing penalties.

Also of note: Oscar Klefbom played a ton last night in Tampa Bay (26:46). And, god forbid, if the Oilers end up chasing again tonight, Klefbom may be required to reprise that performance, which could complicate matters even further.

Projected Oilers Lines

Talbot

Maroon – McDavid – Eberle

Sekera-Russell

Lucic – Draisaitl – Slepyshev

Klefbom-Benning

Caggiula – Nugent-Hopkins – Kassian

Davidson – Gryba

Khaira – Letestu – Pakarinen

Scratches: Brossoit (back-up), Hendricks, Larsson.

The Hendricks scratch is admittedly an assumption on my part. I know Khaira is drawing in, and putting J.J. on the left side of that 4th line is a logical place for him. That said, Hendricks worked his ass off last night and probably deserves to stay in, on merit. But Hendricks also tends to be better with a bit of rest. We’ll see.