At the Rink: Oilers at Penguins

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins will return to Consol Energy Center looking slightly different than when they left.

Since their previous home game, a 5-3 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on March 1, the Penguins (38-18-10) have acquired defensemen Ben Lovejoy and Ian Cole while seeing the departures of defensemen Simon Despres and Robert Bortuzzo to the Anaheim Ducks and St. Louis Blues, respectively. Lovejoy and Cole will make their home debuts against the Edmonton Oilers (18-38-11) on Thursday.

Lovejoy was back alongside defenseman Derrick Pouliot, where he had played through his first four games back with Pittsburgh, during the morning skate. Cole rotated on the third pairing with Rob Scuderi and Christian Ehrhoff, who has missed five games because of concussion symptoms after returning for one game Feb. 25 following a month-long absence.

Penguins coach Mike Johnston said he expects Ehrhoff to return against the Boston Bruins on Saturday.

After playing his first 102 NHL games with the Penguins, Lovejoy played his next 150 with Anaheim. He said he remembered his time in Pittsburgh fondly but thought that door was closed.

"I feel at home here," Lovejoy said. "I'm happy here. I think I fit right back in with the 10 guys that I know. Right back in with the people behind the scenes here with the Penguins, and I've made some new friends and I'm just happy to be here. This is such a good team, such a good organization, such a good city to play hockey in.

"I truly am excited to be back."

Lovejoy returned to a familiar place in the locker room, next to defenseman Kris Letang, a place he occupied for two-and-a-half seasons with the Penguins. He said Letang warned the two new defensemen that he's not the best person to sit alongside, due to media attention. Lovejoy reminded Letang he had sat next to him for multiple seasons before his trade to Anaheim, which Letang did not recall.

"I didn't make a huge impact on his life, I guess," Lovejoy said.

Cole didn't complain about his new accommodations, saying he is as settled in as he can be while living in a hotel room.

"I joined the team on the road; I was on the road beforehand. So I was on the road for like two weeks straight," Cole said. "It's really nice to get here, get home in a new home and get introduced to the fans right away."

Several Penguins reiterated they cannot take the Oilers lightly despite their position in the standings. The Oilers are 29th in the League.

Edmonton coach Todd Nelson said forward Benoit Pouliot, who has been dealing with an illness, is expected to play.

"He's good to go. As of right now he's good to go," Nelson said. "So the lineup's going to stay the same, basically. … We want to have a good start. We played hard the last couple games against some good teams and we expect the same tonight."

Here are the projected lineups:

OILERS

Benoit Pouliot - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle

Teddy Purcell - Derek Roy - Nail Yakupov

Ryan Hamilton - Anton Lander - Matt Fraser

Matt Hendricks - Boyd Gordon - Rob Klinkhammer

Oscar Klefbom - Justin Schultz

Andrew Ference - Keith Aulie

Martin Marincin - Mark Fayne

Ben Scrivens

Richard Bachman

Scratched: Luke Gazdic, Iiro Pakarinen

Injured: Viktor Fasth (knee), Nikita Nikitin (shoulder), Taylor Hall (foot), Tyler Pitlick (upper body)

PENGUINS

David Perron - Sidney Crosby - Patric Hornqvist

Chris Kunitz - Evgeni Malkin - Blake Comeau

Daniel Winnik - Brandon Sutter - Beau Bennett

Nick Spaling - Maxim Lapierre - Steve Downie

Paul Martin - Kris Letang

Derrick Pouliot - Ben Lovejoy

Rob Scuderi - Ian Cole

Marc-Andre Fleury

Thomas Greiss

Scratched: Craig Adams

Injured: Christian Ehrhoff (concussion symptoms), Pascal Dupuis (blood clot), Olli Maatta (upper body)

Status report: Klinkhammer will play his first game in Pittsburgh since the Penguins traded him, along with a first-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, to the Oilers for Perron on Jan. 2. ... Perron scored a goal in his first game against Edmonton, a 2-0 Penguins victory.

Who's hot: Crosby has two goals and three points, including Pittsburgh's only goal in a 2-1 shootout loss against the San Jose Sharks on March 9, in his past three games. His 67 points have him tied with Malkin for the Penguins lead. … Eberle has four points in his past two games. He leads Edmonton with 48 points, five more than Nugent-Hopkins.