Edmonton Oilers shake up d-man pairings, and ace forward missing from practice

This in frpm Bob Stauffer of the Oilers, news that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins wasn’t on the ice for Sunday’s practice, with Jeff Skinner filling in on the top line for him.

The Oilers have also taken the blender to their d-man pairings and mixed them up from Game 2.

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The EdmontonOilers practice:

J. Skinner-McDavid-Perry
Kane-Draisaitl-Kapanen
Frederic-Henrique-Brown
Podkolzin-Janmark-Arvidsson

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Nurse-Bouchard
Kulak-Walman
Ekholm-Klingberg

Skinner
Pickard

(RNH not on ice)

My take

1. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins didn’t miss a shift in all five periods of Game 2, but my Cult colleague Kurt Leavins noted that in the final part of the game Evander Kane took faceoffs on RNH’s line. Does that indicate some kind of arm, hand or wrist injury for RNH.

RNH has 18 points in 18 playoff games and has played much stronger two-way hockey at even strength than in his two previous playoff seasons. If he’s injured in any major way that’s a serious blow to the Oilers. But perhaps he’ll be fine.

2. The Oilers have switched up their d-man pairings but not in a way that makes a ton of obvious good sense. While Evan Bouchard and Darnell Nurse had good results in their short time together in the regular season, they were something of a tire fire in early games against Los Angeles. The Oilers only found their defensive mojo when Bouchard and Nurse with split up, Bouchard playing with Brett Kulak, Nurse with Troy Stecher.

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3. That said a change here was essential. Nurse was struggling to make plays paired up with Brett Kulak. Too many icings and too many turnovers from Nurse. Perhaps the idea here is that Bouchard has now hit his full playoff stride and has reached the highest, most elite level when it comes to puck-moving, so he can do the heavy-lifting in that regard when he’s out with Nurse.

4. I don’t mind the other two pairings at all, though I note that if the Oilers stick with these pairings, they will be going with three pairings that have rarely taken the ice together.

5. Ekholm and Klingberg have played together just eight minutes in the playoffs and just 17 minutes in the regular season, when they were zero goals for, two against. Walman and Kulak played just 12 minutes together at even strength in the regular season and just 17 minutes in the playoffs.

More to come…

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