PROJECTED LINEUP: Oilers at Ducks (Game 3)

ANAHEIM, CA – Time to show our road resolve.

The Edmonton Oilers are feeling confident in their ability to play their game and assert themselves on the road in a new playoff environment as they head into the hostile territory of the Honda Center on Friday for Game 3 of their first-round series against the Anaheim Ducks.

"It's actually kind of exciting to get a different atmosphere, a fresh atmosphere, and a team that we haven't seen in almost 10 years in the playoffs," Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. "I know it'll be rocking in here, and you can use some of that energy in the building."

Based on this morning’s practice, Head Coach Kris Knoblauch is expected to deploy a top line of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman in a move that will reunite one of the NHL's best lines from the past two seasons, hoping to get more offence out of Nugent-Hopkins and McDavid, who each remain pointless in the series.

The change on the top line will keep the trio of Matt Savoie, Josh Samanski and Jack Roslovic together in the bottom six after their success in the third period of Game 2 on Wednesday resulted in each of them contributing on Samanski’s first career playoff goal.

McDavid is still chasing his first point, along with Edmonton’s power play (0-for-6), and thankfully looked no worse for wear during this morning’s pre-game skate and appears fully healthy after being involved in an awkward collision with Mattias Ekholm during Game 2, which briefly took him out before eventually returning.

“He's always flying around,” Knoblauch said of his captain. “Very often, even if he does have something, it still looks like he's flying around. So yes, he'll be able to play and yeah, he's good.

Forward Curtis Lazar was once again between ‘the Bash Brothers’ of Colton Dach and Trent Frederic at the morning skate, with the status of forward Jason Dickinson uncertain after being designated a game-time decision for tonight.

“Pretty good, I guess,” Lazar said. “I’ll stay out of their way, but if I'm going there in that spot, just kind of feed their game, pucks in deep, put them in the corners, and you let them do what they do best, which is straight-line hockey, physical and hard at the net.”

The Oilers are 33-25 all-time in Game 3 of a postseason series, including a 13-12 record when those games have come on the road, and are 22-8 all-time in series that are tied 1-1 after the opening two games. 

Edmonton is looking to improve upon those numbers by retaking the lead in the series with a confident performance on the road, where the team feels it can play with a more focused and simple approach.

"It takes away a lot of the thinking, and you can just play freely and a lot more flow, and you're not worried about matchups," Knoblauch said. "On the other hand, some teams are very strong on the matchups and want to just have their key shutdown guys against Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl, so they might feel it's beneficial for them to have that last change.

"For us, we like playing at home in front of our fans, but I also feel for our players, there's a lot more rhythm and flow when you're on the road just because you can just go out and play."

After the Ducks split the series with a 6-4 victory in Game 2 on Wednesday, the Oilers are looking to get back to playing simple by raising their work ethic and getting back to basics both defensively and on the power play, where their struggles early in this series have arisen despite some of their strong depth contributions in the first two games.

“We're very confident in it,” Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. “It's about doing it, sticking with it and trusting that we can do it. But the confidence level is still high. We've shown it over the years, and we've shown it this year, too. So we understand that it takes a lot of work, but we can get it done.”

Re-taking the lead for the Oilers begins with winning the special teams battle on Friday after the Ducks had the edge in both contests so far, using it to their advantage in Game 2 on Wednesday to even things up with the help of two power-play goals and one shorthanded in their second three-goal middle frame of the series.

Despite having yet to score with the man advantage, the Oilers' top unit power play feels a breakthrough is coming if they keep earning chances and eluding Anaheim's strong blueline defence that denies zone entries.

"We've had some good looks sticking with it and winning those battles," Nugent-Hopkins said. "They can be aggressive at times if there's any loose puck, and we gotta come up with those battles. Usually, that's where we get some good opportunities. 

"So it's about sticking with it. It's such an important time of the year for the power play and penalty kill, and we haven't shown up on the scoreboard yet in the first two games and we want to make an impact. We're going to keep pushing."

Nugent-Hopkins is one of three holdovers (McDavid & Draisaitl) from the 2017 second-round series between the Oilers and Ducks, when Anaheim came out victorious 2-1 in Game 7 of their last meeting in the playoffs. The longest-tenured Oilers forward is excited to be back inside the same building in a playoff setting for the chance to build better memories with the group, beginning with a confident road performance in Game 3 of the series tonight.

"What I remember most was losing, but it was intense. It was a great atmosphere," he said. "They had some really high-end players that were big guys who could really make you pay. Obviously, the game before that where they came back late was disappointing as well, but it was 10 years ago. We've moved on a lot from then, and I'm excited for another big one tonight."

View the Oilers Projected Lineup for Game 3 vs. the Ducks below:

Nugent-Hopkins - McDavid - Hyman
Podkolzin - Draisaitl - Kapanen
Savoie - Samanski - Roslovic
Dach - Lazar - Frederic

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Murphy
Walman - Emberson

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