Knoblauch hints at major Game 3 shake-up as Oilers face early pressure
Kris Knoblauch is making his biggest lineup call of the series, reuniting Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Zach Hyman on the top line for Friday night's Game 3 in Anaheim.
It's a reset move. Two games in, McDavid has no points and a -2 rating in this series. Nugent-Hopkins has one assist. Hyman has one goal but is a -3.
The power play is the other problem. Edmonton is 0-for-6 through the first two games. Zero. For a unit built around the best player on earth, that's not a slump, that's a structural failure.
Knoblauch is betting the reunited top line fixes both issues at once. McDavid and Nugent-Hopkins have never clicked in this series. Getting them together on the same shift again is the logical move. Whether it's enough is a different question.
The bottom six gets to stay intact. Matthew Savoie, Joshua Samanski, and Jack Roslovic stay together after what they did late in Game 2. Samanski scored his first career playoff goal. Roslovic and Savoie each picked up a point on the play. Knoblauch isn't breaking that up.
The other line unchanged is Vasily Podkolzin between Leon Draisaitl and Kasperi Kapanen. Draisaitl leads the team in this series with 4 points. Kapanen has 2 goals and a +4 rating in two games. That line has been the only consistent source of offence Edmonton has had.
Dickinson a game-time call as Oilers lean on depth
Jason Dickinson is listed as a game-time decision tonight, carrying a day-to-day designation. Adam Henrique is also out with a lower-body injury. With both centers unavailable, Curtis Lazar gets the fourth-line center spot between Colton Dach and Trent Frederic.
Evan Bouchard is a -3 in the series with no points. The defenseman who was one of the best offensive blueliners in the NHL this season has been invisible. If the power play breaks through tonight, he'll need to be a big reason why.
Anaheim has looked genuinely dangerous at home. Their 24-13-4 home record this season isn't a fluke. The Ducks are 6-4 in road games in the regular season against Edmonton this year, and they beat the Oilers 6-5 at home in February.
Nugent-Hopkins is the only player on this roster who was around the last time these two teams met in the playoffs. Anaheim won that 2017 series 2-1 in Game 7. He talked about it this morning. "I remember most was losing," he said. That memory is sitting right there on the bench tonight.
Anaheim's Troy Terry has 4 points in this series. Cutter Gauthier has 3. The Ducks have production coming from multiple lines, and they used two power-play goals in Game 2 to even things up. Edmonton's penalty kill has the work cut out for it tonight on the road.
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The series is tied 1-1. Edmonton went 19-16-6 on the road this regular season, not a dominant number. But Knoblauch made a point of mentioning that his team feels freer when playing away from home. Less matchup pressure. More flow.
That might be true. But the Oilers need the power play to show up, and they need McDavid to start producing. Those two things haven't happened yet. The lineup change gives them the best chance to make both happen at the same time.
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APRIL 24, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Brayden Point | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alexandre Texier | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Zachary Bolduc | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Kirby Dach | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jake Guentzel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikita Kucherov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Declan Carlile | - | - | - | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | - | - | |
| Cole Caufield | - | - | - | |
| Erik Cernak | - | - | - | |
| Anthony Cirelli | - | - | - | |
| Phillip Danault | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Demidov | - | - | - | |
| Jakub Dobes | - | - | - | |
| Jake Evans | - | - | - | |
| Zemgus Girgensons | - | - | - | |
| Gage Goncalves | - | - | - | |
| Yanni Gourde | - | - | - | |
| Kaiden Guhle | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||
| 2025-2026 NHL STANDINGS | ||||||
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Sabres | 82 | 50 | 23 | 9 | 109 | |
| Lightning | 82 | 50 | 26 | 6 | 106 | |
| Canadiens | 82 | 48 | 24 | 10 | 106 | |
| Bruins | 82 | 45 | 27 | 10 | 100 | |
| Senators | 82 | 44 | 27 | 11 | 99 | |
| Red Wings | 82 | 41 | 31 | 10 | 92 | |
| Panthers | 82 | 40 | 38 | 4 | 84 | |
| Maple Leafs | 82 | 32 | 36 | 14 | 78 | |
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Hurricanes | 82 | 53 | 22 | 7 | 113 | |
| Penguins | 82 | 41 | 25 | 16 | 98 | |
| Flyers | 82 | 43 | 27 | 12 | 98 | |
| Capitals | 82 | 43 | 30 | 9 | 95 | |
| Blue Jackets | 82 | 40 | 30 | 12 | 92 | |
| Islanders | 82 | 43 | 34 | 5 | 91 | |
| Devils | 82 | 42 | 37 | 3 | 87 | |
| Rangers | 82 | 34 | 39 | 9 | 77 | |
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Avalanche | 82 | 55 | 16 | 11 | 121 | |
| Stars | 82 | 50 | 20 | 12 | 112 | |
| Wild | 82 | 46 | 24 | 12 | 104 | |
| Mammoth | 82 | 43 | 33 | 6 | 92 | |
| Blues | 82 | 37 | 33 | 12 | 86 | |
| Predators | 82 | 38 | 34 | 10 | 86 | |
| Jets | 82 | 35 | 35 | 12 | 82 | |
| Blackhawks | 82 | 29 | 39 | 14 | 72 | |
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Golden Knights | 82 | 39 | 26 | 17 | 95 | |
| Oilers | 82 | 41 | 30 | 11 | 93 | |
| Ducks | 82 | 43 | 33 | 6 | 92 | |
| Kings | 82 | 35 | 27 | 20 | 90 | |
| Sharks | 82 | 39 | 35 | 8 | 86 | |
| Kraken | 82 | 34 | 37 | 11 | 79 | |
| Flames | 82 | 34 | 39 | 9 | 77 | |
| Canucks | 82 | 25 | 49 | 8 | 58 | |
COMPLETE STANDINGS | ||||||