The Edmonton Oilers are shuffling their forward lines and adding a seventh defenceman to the game roster following injuries to two players Monday night in their loss to the Buffalo Sabres. Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said after his team’s morning skate that both Noah Philp and Curtis Lazar will miss the last three games of their seven-game road trip, starting with Wednesday night’s game (5 p.m. MT) in Washington, D.C., against the Capitals, who are coming off a 2-1 win on Monday over the Los Angeles Kings. Both Philp and Lazar, who fill roles on the National Hockey League team’s bottom-six forward lines, suffered upper-body injuries in the 5-1 loss to the host Sabres. Knoblauch said the pair could return to action next week. The Oilers finish their road trip with games against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday and the Florida Panthers on Saturday before returning home to play the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. The line shuffling – which moves winger Jack Roslovic to the top line alongside Connor McDavid, Andrew Mangiapane to Leon Draisaitl’s line to replace him and Zach Hyman to the third line with Adam Henrique from the McDavid line – “spreads out the scoring,” Knoblauch told media. He said moving Hyman to the line centred by Henrique comes with the hope they can rekindle some magic between them from last season. “They haven’t played together this year, but there was some chemistry last year between those two, so hopefully they can rekindle that and give us three strong lines,” Knoblauch said. Knoblauch is hoping the moves help the forwards give “a little more push, shift in and shift out” after defensive lapses in Monday’s loss provided the Sabres several scoring opportunities. “Ultimately, we need each line to give us more to set up the next line,” Knoblauch said. “That starts with puck execution, making plays and not giving (the puck) away ... just making a pass tape to tape so the next guy can make his play.” Henrique said being “defensively strong” can help lead to chances going the other way. “Defensively, we want to be strong, end plays in the defensive zone, be tight and structured and be stingy defensively where you’re not giving up grade ‘A’ opportunities,” he said. “That can lead to the offensive side of things, too. Certainly down the lineup, we’d like to be scoring more and it’s felt like we’ve had some chances here and there ... but you’ve got to stay consistent in that effort.” Knoblauch said Emberson, a right-handed shot, will rotate through the defensive pairings against the Capitals, with Brett Kulak and Jake Walman switching blueline sides when needed. Projected Oilers lineup Forward Matt Savoie • Connor McDavid • Jack Roslovic Vasily Podkolzin • Leon Draisaitl • Andrew Mangiapane Trent Frederic • Adam Henrique • Zach Hyman Mattias Janmark • David Tomasek Defence Darnell Nurse • Evan Bouchard Mattias Ekholm • Brett Kulak Jake Walman • Alec Regula Ty Emberson Goal Stuart Skinner • Calvin Pickard
