The Edmonton Oilers dropped a disappointing loss to the Detroit Red Wings last night, and in response, Coach Knoblauch is breaking up the most consistent line this season.
Coach Knoblauch tried a lineup of three balanced lines last night, an experiment they’ve tried before featuring Zach Hyman and Jeff Skinner on line 3, but now they’re opting for a new look entirely.
Coach Knoblauch shakes up lined at Oilers practice following loss to Detroit Red Wings
According to Oilers insider Bob Stauffer at practice, the lines at practice were as follows. With Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl reunited, the consistent first and second lines are broken up.
Notably, Vasily Podkolzin has been bumped down to the third line, and Jeff Skinner has been moved back to the fourth. Noah Philp projects to come out of the lineup.
Both Mattias Ekholm and John Klingberg were absent from practice today. Ekholm was absent recently with illness, so it’s possible there’s a bug floating through the room.
Some line changes seemed needed after last night’s disappointing loss. Although Arvidsson and Podkolzin in particular have been good line-mates for Draisaitl this year, there’s been just a few too many times they’ve missed on clean chances to score.
With Corey Perry on the first line, it’s clearly not a long term solution or lines that will even remain concrete in-game. However, a mix up was surely needed from Knoblauch.
Reuniting McDavid and Draisaitl on one like isn’t the best method to win in the playoffs, but for tomorrow night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, it could give them the edge to win.