The Edmonton Oilers ran a new-look defensive group this morning, with Darnell Nurse presumably out with an injury.
Nurse was knocked out of Saturday night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs from a brutal headshot by Ryan Reaves. The veteran Oilers defender took the full impact to his head, appearing dazed and bloodied in the immediate aftermath.
Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch told reporters after the skate that Nurse would likely be out anywhere from 5-10 days. He also confirmed that Viktor Arvidsson would miss his third straight game with an injury.
With that in mind, the team ran a different-looking defensive group ahead of tonight’s game against the Montreal Canadiens.
Oilers TV’s Tony Brar had the initial report.
EDM lines & pairings at Morning Skate:
• No Arvidsson or Nurse on the ice
RNH – McDavid – Hyman
Podkolzin – Draisaitl – Perry
Janmark – Henrique – Brown
Skinner – RyanEkholm – Bouchard
Kulak – Emberson
Dermott – Brown
StecherPickard
Skinner#Oilers— Tony Brar 🚀 (@TonyBrarOTV) November 18, 2024
Brett Kulak and Ty Emberson have moved up to the second pair with Nurse out of the lineup. Those two have developed some decent chemistry in recent weeks, with Kulak even getting some time alongside Nurse on that pair. It’s as close to an ideal replacement as the team could get right now.
It appears Josh Brown, fresh from a call-up to the NHL squad yesterday, will get his first taste of Oilers action tonight on the third pair. He was skating next to Travis Dermott while Troy Stecher was rotating with Brown.
Knoblauch appears to be running an 11 and seven formation with Arvidsson out once again. The Swede was injured against the New York Islanders last week and has already missed two games. This will mean that Edmonton will have all of Brown, Stecher, and Dermott at their disposal tonight.
That won’t change much up front for Edmonton, as the forward lines were the same as those that faced the Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
Calvin Pickard will get the start in goal after Stuart Skinner had a forgettable outing in Toronto. This will be Pickard’s seventh start of the season. He holds a 4-2-0 record this year and is looking for his third career victory against the Canadiens.
Puck drop for tonight’s game is set for 5:30 pm MT.