PROJECTED LINEUP: Oilers vs. Canucks

EDMONTON, AB – Connor McDavid will remain out of the Oilers lineup on Saturday night and miss his third straight game with a lower-body injury when the Oilers host the Canucks at Rogers Place.

Head Coach Kris Knoblauch confirmed after Saturday’s optional morning skate that McDavid remains day-to-day but re-affirmed they’re just playing it cautious with their captain, hoping to get ahead of the issue before the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs next weekend.

“He's been getting better and better every day,” Knoblauch said. “I guess we were more optimistic that it'd be a quicker turnaround, but it takes time and we're just being cautious. I think it'd be different if it was playoffs, but we want to make sure everyone, not only Connor, but the entire team is healthy and ready to go, and we're doing the best for every person on the team.”

The continued absence of McDavid and Ceci, who's expected to be out for a second straight night, opens up more opportunities for some other players to absorb the extra ice time and see what they can do with it – particularly in the middle six for their second line in Evander Kane, Adam Henrique and Warren Foegele, who pitched in with both Oilers goals in last night’s OT loss to Arizona.

“I think it's great for other players to step up. You saw it with the McLeod line and how well they played; and also in that game, Leon playing with Nuge and Hyman. I thought they were outstanding last night,” Knoblauch said.

“Henrique and Kane’s line chipped in both our goals last night, so when one player goes down – and that happens through the regular season and playoffs – other players have to step up and I think we have the guys who’ve done that.”

Following Calvin Pickard's 25-save defeat last night, Stuart Skinner will be back between the pipes for the Oilers and is excited to see how his team stacks up with the Canucks since their last meeting way back on Nov. 6.

"We dug ourselves a pretty big hole, and being able to get out of that and being where we are now, I don't think a lot of people would have thought that could have happened," he said. "So it just shows you what kind of group we have, the perseverance that we bring, the hard work and just the brotherhood that we had.

"Davo [McDavid] said it after one of our wins. We really proved to ourselves that when we stick together as a brotherhood and we just come together as a group, we can honestly get through anything and I 100 percent believe that. I think we've proved that this year."

The Oilers were 17 points back of the Canucks on Feb. 15, but have since pulled to within three points of Vancouver and the Pacific Division lead while also having a game in hand. Edmonton is currently riding the longest home point streak in the NHL this season with a 10-0-2 record and a +33 goal differential in their last 12 games at Rogers Place.

Knoblauch wasn't even behind the Oilers bench yet the last time these two rivals played, and since his appointment back on Nov. 12, Edmonton has compiled a 45-15-5 record – including a 26-4-3 return on home ice.

"With all of our games against teams, we always look at how they've been playing the last week or so and look at their trends," Knoblauch said. "If there's a game where we played them within recent memory, we'll look at that. But if it goes too far, you've got a different team. Often you change systems and there's so much going on, so that happened being the season. I'm not. I don't look at that very much.

Oilers Projected Lineup vs. Canucks

Nugent-Hopkins - Draisaitl - Hyman
Kane - Henrique - Foegele
Holloway - McLeod - Perry
Janmark - Ryan - Brown

Ekholm- Bouchard
Nurse - Stecher
Kulak - Desharnais

Skinner
Pickard