Kane reveals injury: Oilers switch up lines ahead of playoff opener

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Edmonton Oilers forward Evander Kane revealed the injury he has been suffering from.

Kane started the season playing next to Connor McDavid on the team’s top line but has seen himself fall down the depth chart and has most recently been getting time on the Oilers’ third line. He missed the last three games of the season with what he described as a sports hernia.

“I’ve been dealing with a sports hernia all year so it’s just getting worse and worse so I thought it would be good to take a week off before the playoffs to see how I could feel,” Kane said this morning. “It’s one of those things that requires some time away from skating.”

The 32-year-old was back on the ice with the Oilers for this morning’s practice at Rogers Place and wouldn’t commit to if he would be ready to play in Game 1 against the Kings tomorrow. Still, he was a full participant and was taking rushes on the team’s fourth line with Sam Carrick and Mattias Janmark.

630 CHED’s Bob Stauffer had the line rushes this morning.

Head coach Kris Knoblauch says that he expects Kane will suit up for the Oilers tomorrow night.

“I anticipate him being good to go for tomorrow,” Knoblauch told reporters this morning. “We got a lot of guys who are playing well… we want him in the lineup. Depending on his his health and how well he’s playing we’ll obviously be using him more. Cautiously we’re just putting him in a minimal role on lines but after five, 10 minutes into the first game that’s probably going to change.”

This comes as 22-year-old Dylan Holloway has started to hit his stride since being called up from the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors a few weeks ago. In the six games he’s played since the call-up, Holloway has three goals and five points and has added a lot of speed to the top nine alongside Ryan McLeod and Corey Perry.

“The way Dylan’s playing does give us some flexibility with our lines,” Knoblauch added. “That’s a nice addition to our team right now.”

Janmark was another question mark heading into tomorrow’s opener against the LA Kings. The Swede didn’t skate yesterday and Knoblauch said he was dealing with some sort of issue. He was on the ice today with Kane and Carrick.

Outside of that, the lines are just about what you would expect. Adam Henrique remains with McDavid and Zach Hyman on the top line. The Oilers captain said yesterday that he thinks there is a lot more offensive potential from Henrique.

“A solid, responsible player, somebody who takes care of his own end. I love playing with guys like that,” McDavid told reporters yesterday morning. “Offensively I think things are still [trying] to click.”

The D-pairings are all remaining the same and Stuart Skinner is expected to get the nod between the pipes for Game 1. Skinner defeated the Kings in last year’s first-round playoff series but did get pulled in one of the six games.

“I’m a lot smarter in a lot of different ways [compared to last season],” Skinner said yesterday. “Going through a whole season that we did this year gave me a lot more perspective… I’m really excited to play game 83.”

Puck drop tomorrow night is set for 8 pm MT.

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