PROJECTED LINEUP: Jarry to make first Oilers home start against Devils

EDMONTON, AB – Goaltender Tristan Jarry will start on home ice for the first time since being acquired by the Edmonton Oilers last month when forward Curtis Lazar plays in his 600th NHL game at Rogers Place against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night.

The 30-year-old netminder has started plenty of games in Edmonton over his career, but the large majority of those were at Rexall Place with the WHL's Edmonton Oil Kings between the years 2011-15, and he made only two starts at Rogers Place over parts of 10 seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

All of Jarry's five starts for the Oilers this season have come on the road, returning four wins with a 2.58 GAA and .907 save percentage and one shutout, while combining for a 13-3-2 record, a 2.64 GAA and .909 save percentage and two shutouts.

Jarry stopped all 31 shots for the shutout in his last start on Saturday in a 6-0 win over the Canucks – the first of back-to-back shutouts this past weekend for the Oilers before Connor Ingram made 27 saves in a 5-0 blanking of the Blues on Sunday.

"Right now, we're just balancing the goalies," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "They're rotating pretty much back and forth, but a lot of that has to do with Jarry coming back from injury. Now they're both playing really well, we feel very confident putting either one of those guys in."

With three goalies still on the roster in Tristan Jarry, Connor Ingram and Calvin Pickard, along with Kasperi Kapanen being out with an injury tonight, the Oilers will go with 11 forwards and seven defencemen, with Alec Regula serving as the seventh defenceman.

Coach Knoblauch said that the Oilers will be without forward Kasperi Kapanen for "about a week" after he was injured in the second period during Sunday's victory after falling into the boards, but the Finnish forward was on the ice Tuesday morning and isn't expected to face an extended absence.

Leon Draisaitl is expected to return later this week after taking a leave of absence to return to Germany to deal with a family illness.

In the absence of the German, the Oilers have received plenty of depth scoring from their lineup, including Curtis Lazar having points in back-to-back games as he enters his 600th career NHL game on Tuesday against his former team the Devils, where he spent parts of three seasons from 2022-25.

"It's nice having Lazar in our lineup, and I don't think there's any coincidence that our record is better when Curtis is in," Knoblauch said. "He helps our team in a lot of areas. One is the penalty kill, and another thing that he does a lot of is take defensive zone face-offs. When you have a guy like that you can throw out there, it reduces the workload for a guy like McDavid and Draisaitl because they don't have to start in the defensive zone as often.

"He came out of the lineup a few times, but I think it was more because of giving other guys opportunities and finding out what we had from other guys. I think we were always confident and knew what we were going to get from Curtis, but we're just giving other guys opportunities. But I think we got to a point where realizing how valuable he is and how much he helps us."

Vasily Podkolzin has been a terrific addition to the top line with Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman, posting goals in consecutive games.

"I have lots of ice time right now and am playing a bigger role than before, so of course, I'm feeling pretty confident and good about it," Podkolzin said.

After it was Jake Walman filling a role on Edmonton's top-unit power play the past few games, Podkolzin will get an opportunity to play in the spot on Tuesday as a fill-in for Draisaitl and a reward for his terrific play in recent contests.

"You got a four-forward group with one defenceman, and we had Walman out there who's a great shooter, but his natural position on the power play is up top," Knoblauch said. "We just wanted to have Podkolzin try that. We only have a game or two before we anticipate Draisaitl coming back, so we wanted to give that a try."

Despite taking over a position normally occupied by one of the League's deadliest shooters, Draisaitl, Podkolzin wants to continue playing the game that's made him successful this season with 12 goals and 11 assists in 50 games – only three points off his career-high of 26 from the 2022-23 season.

"It's hard to steal from him," Podkolzin said. "I think I'll be myself anyway. I'll not be Leon Draisaitl for sure, but try to be just myself and score from there."

View the Oilers Projected Lineup vs. the Devils below:

Podkolzin - McDavid - Hyman
Frederic - Nugent-Hopkins - Roslovic
Mangiapane - Lazar - Janmark
Howard - Savoie

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Emberson
Walman - Stastney
Regula

Jarry
Ingram