PROJECTED LINEUP: Oilers vs. Lightning

EDMONTON, AB – Connor Ingram will start a fifth straight game, while Ty Emberson is expected to return to the lineup for the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday when they welcome the Tampa Bay Lightning to Rogers Place to finish a four-game homestand.

Ingram stopped 19 of 23 shots in Thursday's 4-0 defeat to the Panthers and will look to shut down another Florida opponent tonight in the Lightning, who sit second in the Atlantic Division and are tied for third this season in goals scored alongside the Oilers with 253, but own a far superior plus-57 goal differential that ranks second in the NHL.

Tampa Bay has been led offensively by Nikita Kucherov, who has recorded eight points (2G, 6A) in back-to-back wins for Tampa and leads the League with 1.81 points per game this season, posting 114 points (38 goals) in 63 games to sit neck-and-neck with Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon in the NHL's scoring race coming down the stretch.

"I think they're obviously one of the best teams in the league," Zach Hyman said. "They've won cups before, they've got high-end players, and I think Kucherov's playing at an elite level. They're full of guys who are extremely talented, and as a team, they're playing really well.  So I think we often rise to occasions like that and it'll be a fun one."

Former Oilers forward Corey Perry will make his second trip back to Rogers Place tonight since joining the Los Angeles Kings in the offseason before being traded before the Trade Deadline to Tampa Bay for his second stint with the club.

"He can change the mood of the game, stir it up and get the other team distracted," Knoblauch said of Perry. "He can score goals. He's very good around that net. There's a reason why he's been in the NHL as long as he has. A lot of respect for him. He was a great teammate for us, and you can see why Tampa would make that trade for him because he's a competitor."

While Ingram starts tonight, Head Coach Kris Knoblauch says that Tristan Jarry will get an opportunity to re-enter the Oilers crease on their upcoming road trip that begins this coming Tuesday against the Utah Mammoth and wraps up Thursday with an important Pacific Division matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights.

"He'll return and get a place soon at some point during the road trip," Knoblauch said. "I think he's had several good days of practice and he's getting ready.  I know he and Peter [Aubry] have been working on things to improve his game, but I said this a long time ago that we're going to need both our goalies at some point, and we can't ride one guy throughout the year. Jarry is a very capable goalie. Getting his confidence up is a very important thing, and he'll definitely be playing one, if not two games on that road trip."

Emberson's return to the lineup from a five-game injury absence could see him partner up with Jake Walman on the third pairing after Knoblauch mentioned they've been consistent with their Ekholm-Bouchard and Nurse-Murphy pairings, with Spencer Stastney expected to be the odd man out.

Saturday's morning skate was optional, so the lines are based on Friday's full-team practice and will be confirmed during warm-ups.

View the Oilers Projected Lineup vs. the Lightning below:

Savoie - McDavid - Hyman 
Podkolzin - Nugent-Hopkins - Kapanen
Jones - Dickinson - Roslovic
Samanski - Henrique - Jarventie 

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Murphy
Walman - Emberson

Ingram
Jarry