Edmonton Oilers lineup notes for game four versus the Dallas Stars

We are entering one of the biggest games of the season for the Edmonton Oilers. A win, and they go up three games to one in the Conference Final. A loss, and the series heads back to Dallas tied at two. After a blowout loss in game three, we can be sure that the Dallas Stars will be coming out of the gates flying in this game.

Who’s in and who’s out

How will the Oilers line up to match that, though? We learned of a few potential roster changes for this game, starting with the injury to Connor Brown. He will be out of the lineup for at least game four, but likely even longer, after taking a high hit and leaving early in game three.

Additionally, Calvin Pickard, who suffered a leg injury early in the second round series against the Vegas Golden Knights, will be returning to the lineup tonight. He will be serving as the backup to Stuart Skinner.

Lastly, the return of Mattias Ekholm will have to wait just a little while longer. Yesterday, it was undecided if he would be ready to go. But with the success of the team’s defensive play so far in this series, there is no rush to bring him back early. Whenever he does return, however, he will provide a huge boost to the defensive group.

Line predictions

But with a player swap will likely come line swaps as well. And based off of interviews this morning, one line we might see is Vasily Podkolzin, Mattias Janmark, and Viktor Arvidsson together.

This breaks up the line that had been serving Leon Draisaitl oh so well, and opens up the option to reunite the Hart Trophy line with Connor McDavid and Corey Perry. To start the game, at least.

Evander Kane and Zach Hyman looked good together late in game three, and they seem to be an option to be centred by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Hyman is nearly about to set the all-time record for hits in a single playoff season while Nugent-Hopkins is having one of the best Conference Final performances of the last couple decades.

That leaves Trent Frederic and Kasperi Kapanen to line up with Adam Henrique as the final line.

Head coach Kris Knoblauch likes to blend his lines early and often, so don’t be surprised to see a variety of combinations through tonight’s game.

No changes are expected amongst the defensive pairings.