OTTAWA, ON - The Oilers had an optional skate on Thursday morning after a full-team practice late in the afternoon on Wednesday upon arrival from Raleigh, NC. Andrej Sekera was a notable who took the ice for the optional, though head coach Todd McLellan indicated that there might not be any changes to the lineup from Tuesday's 7-3 win over Carolina.
"Right now the plan is no (lineup changes) but we'll see after a couple of players get off the ice what the health situation is like," McLellan said.
Brad Malone skated as an emergency recall meaning he can only draw into the lineup if one of the 12 Oilers forwards who played last game were unable to go.
Another team dealing with injury is tonight's opponent, the Ottawa Senators. With a banged up blueline, McLellan was asked if that was something the Oilers will game plan for.
"That's certainly the plan for any team coming in," said McLellan. "But sometimes those young players at this time of the year they rise to the occasion and they begin to perform at a confident and high level. We've seen that with some of our players, Auvitu and Ethan Bear, when they've got the opportunity with some injuries they've been able to throw out some pretty good games. Both teams are banged up, both teams are giving some young players a chance to look at things. I'm sure it'll be a competitive night."
NURSE RETURNS HOME
A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Darnell Nurse returns to his home province to play tonight but unlike a couple of years ago when his fight with Cody McCormick saw his father get fired up while in attendance, he won't have any family at this one.
"Everyone's busy around my sister and her last tournament so I'm doing this one on my own," Nurse stated, adding that his play generally sees an uptick when his sister is playing high profile games as she is this year at the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament.
"Anytime we're playing at the same time we want to put on a performance. I know she'll put one on so I've gotta continue to play here this month because if I don't, she'll just show me up."
McLellan said he notices when players step up their play a little when playing at home.
"When you come to your hometown or your home province and you have family and friends around, you get a little more skip in your stride if you will," he began. "It's not just in Ontario, players can go to B.C., Alberta or anywhere and that happens. You want to perform well. You want to make the name on the front of your jersey very important and make those fans proud of that name but the small name on the back is also important and you want to make your family proud. Darnell's from a sporting family and his sister is doing a tremendous job right now in the NCAAs in the Women's Basketball so I'm sure he wants to live up to the name in Ontario."
As for Darnell's dad, Nurse had a chuckle about the incident.
"I had no idea what was going on in the stands at the time but it was extremely funny. When I got back in the room we were all watching the video and I still joke around with my dad about that one to this day."
- Marc Ciampa, EdmontonOilers.com
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