PROJECTED LINEUP: Oilers at Capitals

WASHINGTON, DC – The Edmonton Oilers are looking to bounce back from Monday's loss to the Buffalo Sabres using 11 forwards and seven defencemen, with injuries forcing them to shuffle their lineup for the first of a back-to-back set at Capital One Arena against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.

"You have to put the ones earlier in the road trip behind us, and we have to have a bounce-back effort from last game," forward Adam Henrique said. "So we know in here that we gotta be better collectively than that performance, and we have that belief in here that we'll be better."

Fourth-line forwards Noah Philp and Curtis Lazar are expected to miss the remainder of Edmonton's lengthy seven-game road trip with upper-body injuries, Head Coach Kris Knoblauch revealed pre-game, and will be replaced by David Tomasek up front and Ty Emberson on the blueline to fill out the lineup.

Knoblauch confirmed they'll go with an 11-and-7 combination for at least the next three games, with Emberson expected to rotate through three new defensive combinations of Darnell Nurse with Evan Bouchard, Mattias Ekholm with Brett Kulak, and Jake Walman alongside Alec Regula.

"The D pairs for the morning skate are going to be a lot different than during the game, just because we've got seven defencemen," Knoblauch said. "So there's going to be a lot of rotation there. We'll expect Kulak to play some left and right side, probably Walman too, but we're in a situation where we have to go 11 and 7, probably for the next three or maybe four games, so that's what we're doing."

Stuart Skinner will start the first of back-to-back games tonight against Logan Thompson before Calvin Pickard suits up on Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

With only 11 forwards available, Coach Knoblauch is using tonight as an opportunity to spread the offence throughout the lineup, hoping to see "a little bit more push" from his group to try and build good shifts on top of one another, while getting more players involved on the scoresheet.

"Shift in, shift out. Just not taking the foot off the gas," he said. "There are going to be times where Washington has their chances, but ultimately, each line has to give us a little more in setting up the next line. I think that ultimately starts with puck execution, making plays and not giving it away, but also, there's been a lot of talk about making a pass tape-to-tape so the next guy can make his next play."

On the top line, forward Jack Roslovic has earned a promotion for his stellar play in recent games, recording 14 points (7G, 7A) in his last 12 contests and currently enjoying a five-game point streak (3G, 3A) after scoring in back-to-back games against Carolina and Buffalo, along with goals in four of his last five.

Andrew Mangiapane will round out the top six by taking Roslovic's former place on the right wing of the second line with Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin.

The Oilers' third line will feature Trent Frederic, Adam Henrique, and notably Zach Hyman, who's played two games since making his season debut against the Hurricanes on Saturday and will look to bring some energy to the bottom-six forwards (or in this case, five), whose offence has gone cold in November.

"We'll just be working," Henrique said of his line. "We've got to play with our legs. I think a north-south simple game, muck-and-grind, and then finding a way to get pucks and bodies to the net. Finding a couple of ugly goals would be big for us, and I think that's what's expected."

Knoblauch added: "Hyman playing with Henrique, obviously they haven't played together this year, but there was some chemistry last year between those two, so hopefully they can rekindle that and give us three strong lines."

That shift-by-shift attitude extends to the back end, where defenceman Jake Walman said they're focused on taking care of their own zone first with whomever they're on the ice with to try and help build a response for the Oilers.

"Little details and little things," Walman said. "Probably cleaning up our own zone is the biggest thing. I think we're spending too much time there. I know we're spending too much time there. So getting stops and getting it up to our forwards to try and play in their zone as much as possible."

"We've got to compound shifts here – shift after shift and period after period. Take care of one period at a time and try to build something from the ground up. We've been struggling lately, but I think we have the ability to bounce back pretty quick if we put a couple of periods together here."

View the Oilers Projected Lineup vs. Washington below:

Savoie - McDavid - Roslovic
Podkolzin - Draisaitl - Mangiapane
Frederic - Henrique - Hyman
Janmark - Tomasek

Nurse - Bouchard
Ekholm - Kulak
Walman - Regula
Emberson

Skinner
Pickard