PROJECTED LINEUP: Nurse out for Thursday's Cup Final rematch against the Panthers

SUNRISE, FL – Defenceman Darnell Nurse will sit out Thursday's rematch of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final between the Oilers and Panthers with an undisclosed injury, while winger Jeff Skinner will be back in a top-six role as Edmonton looks to break out of its four-game losing skid at Amerant Bank Arena.

Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said that Nurse is day-to-day and will hopefully be available as soon as Saturday's final game of their five-game East Coast road trip against the Carolina Hurricanes. Nurse's absence will see Troy Stecher move to the left side of the second pairing next to Ty Emberson, while Brett Kulak will play alongside John Klingberg, who was out of the lineup on Tuesday against Tampa Bay after playing back-to-back games on the weekend.

Up front, Skinner's return on the second line with Leon Draisaitl and Viktor Arvidsson will bump rookie Matt Savoie from the lineup after Coach Knoblauch elected to go with a more veteran lineup to make his team harder to play against and give his longer-tenured players a shot at facing the Panthers in the building where they fell 2-1 in Game 7 of last season's Stanley Cup Final on June 24.

"Leo is pretty dominant down the middle. He's got great vision and I think as winger, you've got to try and take advantage of the space he creates," Skinner said. "And then Arvy, he's been playing great. He's got a tremendous amount of speed and is a handful on the forecheck, so I think getting in the zone and trying to read off those guys is probably the number one sort of thing going forward.

"Those are two good players and I think it's going to be fun to play with them."

Knoblauch acknowledged that Savoie had been playing well in his first three NHL games with the Oilers, recording an assist and averaging 12:03 of ice time while playing next to superstar Leon Draisaitl, and that it was a tough decision taking the 21-year-old rookie out of the lineup.

"Yeah, it's unfortunate. Difficult call to make," Knoblauch said of Savoie. "Matt's played really well, and just looking at what our team needs and the players that we have, we're just getting a little bit harder to play against.

"I like his edge and I like the way he plays, and I think he did a lot of good things. There'll be a time I'm certain that he'll be back with our team and playing, but right now, we're just going with the guys that we have that have been with us for the majority of the season."

With the decision to place Jeff Skinner on the second line with Leon Draisaitl and Viktor Arivdsson, Knoblauch says the trio brings a lot of offensive pedigree and proven abilty to play next to each other, but he'll want to see a notable net presence from them around Florida's crease battling for chances.

"Putting three guys that are been typically top-six guys and been able to put pretty good offensive numbers together, and hopefully they can play their game and contribute some offence," he said. "Collectively, we've got to find a little bit of net presence between the three of them, but the three of them should be able to make plays, create some offence and be creative."

View Edmonton's Projected Lineup vs. Florida below:

Nugent-Hopkins - McDavid - Hyman
Skinner - Draisaitl - Arvidsson
Janmark - Henrique - Brown
Podkolzin - Kapanen - Perry

Ekholm - Bouchard
Stecher - Emberson
Kulak - Klingberg

Skinner
Pickard