At the Rink: Maple Leafs at Oilers

EDMONTON -- Toronto Maple Leafs coach Peter Horachek has faced a lot of adversity since taking over from Randy Carlyle on Jan. 6.

The Maple Leafs fell out of playoff contention under Horachek and as a result the pressure has mounted on the interim coach. Yet Horachek is taking everything in stride, having overcome bigger challenges in life.

"I've gone through tougher things," Horachek said Monday as the Maple Leafs prepared to play the Edmonton Oilers. "I've had cancer. I've had different things in my life and that's a lot tougher than going through this. You just deal with it and stay positive. If you look at yourself as a leader, if you look at yourself when you were younger as somebody that could deal with adversity, and then when you get to these situations I think you can just handle them. You try to be as strong as you can and you try to put the right face forward and you take a different approach that is not going to affect everyone in that room the wrong way. You have to try to stay strong and try to do the right things."

Toronto had the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Eastern Conference when Carlyle was fired Jan. 6. But under Horachek the Maple Leafs are 6-21-3, and with losses in five of their past six games (1-4-1), they've fallen to 15th in the conference.

Monday was the first time Horachek revealed he battled cancer while an assistant with the Nashville Predators.

"About five years ago I had prostate cancer. And my father died of it so there was something in the air of it," Horachek said. "You realize there are things that are bigger than hockey. So you deal with it and try to be the right person. There are things that are worse, there are things that are going on in the world that are worse, and we try to deal with this as a person that can stand up and be counted for and try to show your character and try to show your positive position and I want the players to do the same thing."

The Oilers have struggled as much as the Maple Leafs; they've lost seven straight (0-5-2) and are 29th in the League standings.

They are looking to avenge a 5-1 defeat against the Maple Leafs on Feb. 7.

"Coming off the performance we had in Toronto, we expect a lot better from ourselves," Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. "I thought offensively we played all right, we just couldn't find a way to score. But we gave up too many odd-man rushes; I think they had three breakaways or something like that. We have to be a tough team to play against defensively so we have to find that tonight."

The Oilers still are without left wing Taylor Hall, who skated with his teammates for the first time since aggravating a leg injury.

Hall is hoping to be back in the lineup before the end of the season. He was hit with a shot in practice when the Oilers reconvened following the 2015 NHL All-Star Weekend and has missed 21 of Edmonton's past 22 games.

Hall attempted to play against the San Jose Sharks on Feb. 2 but left the game in the second period.

"It's one of those things that I have to see how it reacts to being on the ice," Hall said. "Today was a good, positive session and I'm certainly looking forward to playing soon. It feels good. It's a weird injury. With a bone injury it kind of gives you a feeling of how you are doing right away when you're doing activities and skating and whatnot. Today was good. I practiced really hard; perhaps too hard at times. I think I'll probably need to get my conditioning back before my injury is ready."

Oilers general manager Craig MacTavish, speaking at the League's meeting of general managers in Boca Raton, Fla., said he's hopeful Hall will be back in the lineup before the season ends.

"I haven't been in loop too much," he said. "I've been on the road the last little while but I know he is going to play at the end. We want to make sure not only is the injury completely healed but that he is in great condition and ready to come in and help us. We won't see Taylor until he is ready to do that."

Goaltender Ben Scrivens will start for Edmonton; Jonathan Bernier will start in goal for Toronto.

Here are the projected lineups:

MAPLE LEAFS

Richard Panik - Tyler Bozak - Phil Kessel

James van Riemsdyk - Nazem Kadri - Joffrey Lupul

Leo Komarov - Trevor Smith - David Booth

Joakim Lindstrom - Zach Sill - Brandon Kozun

Eric Brewer - Morgan Rielly

Jake Gardiner - Dion Phaneuf

TJ Brennan - Andrew MacWilliam

Jonathan Bernier

James Reimer

Scratched: Tim Erixon, Peter Holland

Injured: Stephane Robidas (shoulder), Roman Polak (hernia), Nathan Horton (concussion)

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

Martin Marincin - Mark Fayne

Keith Aulie - Andrew Ference

Ben Scrivens

Richard Bachman

Scratched: Luke Gazdic

Injured: Tyler Pitlick (lacerated spleen), Taylor Hall (leg), Nikita Nikitin (shoulder), Viktor Fasth (knee), Iiro Pakarinen (knee)

Status report: Kadri will play his second game after serving a team-imposed, three-game suspension. … Nikitin is near a return to the lineup but will not play against Toronto. He is expected to return during the Oilers' current six-game homestand.

Who's hot: Eberle is on a four-game point streak, with three goals and five assists. ... Nugent-Hopkins has three goals and five assist in his past four games. … Booth has five goals and two assists in his past seven games.