PROJECTED LINEUP: Oilers vs. Sharks

EDMONTON, AB – Defenceman Mattias Ekholm is "on the edge" to suit up and remains day-to-day, while goaltender Connor Ingram will get the start for the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night in another Pacific Division matchup against the San Jose Sharks at Rogers Place.

Head Coach Kris Knoblauch is hoping the Oilers will have their star Swedish defenceman available tonight for a visit from a Sharks squad that boasts sophomore standout Macklin Celebrini after deeming Ekholm day-to-day and questionable following the team's practice at Rogers Place on Wednesday.

"Obviously, he's a good player for us and a big part of our team, and we want to make sure that he's healthy moving forward and not making something worse," Knoblauch said. "We'll see if he's playing tonight. Same forward group as last game."

The 35-year-old has been one of Edmonton's many threats from the blueline in recent games with three goals and four assists over his last five contests, including his first-career hat trick in a 7-4 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday, which followed Evan Bouchard's three-goal and six-point effort the game before against the Capitals to make the Oilers the first team in NHL hstory to have defencemen record hat tricks in consecutive games.

The Oilers scored the four fastest goals from defencemen in NHL history (3:49) during the second period against the Ducks and will look to rely upon them moving forward to make stops in their own end against the likes of Macklin Celebrini and jump into rushes to help create offence with the forwards.

"You need your defence to be involved in the offence," Knoblauch said. "Every team that scores a lot of goals, its defencemen are getting involved in making plays. They're scoring the goals, or they're getting the pucks to the forwards or getting them on net so we can get rebounds. You need your defenceman to be a big part of your offence, and we've definitely been seeing this the last few games with the back-to-back hat tricks. But overall, they've been playing pretty well as a group.

"A lot of that also has to do with Walman coming back. Walman's an offensive guy who moves the puck well and can make some plays. So going forward, yes, we want to continue doing that. But overall, he mentioned the defensive side of it, and we need to reduce our goals against."

Jake Walman didn't record one of those four straight goals on Tuesday, but as Knoblauch mentioned, the 29-year-old has been an excellent addition back to the lineup since coming back from a two-month injury absence on Jan. 13 against the Nashville Predators after missing the previous 23 games.

"The rest of us are getting jealous a little bit," Walman joked. "But no, it's awesome. That stat and the record they set are awesome. Everybody in our D corps can put up points and chip in on offence. So it's nice to see it gives the whole group confidence.

Despite winning their past two games with 13 total goals scored, the Oilers allowed nine goals against in that span, and their defensive corps wants to shore up their game in their own zone to help reduce the stress on their netminders and forwards, which is being helped by their offensive possession.

"I think it's getting stops in the D zone," Walman said. "Our team up front is so powerful, so kind of getting them the puck as much as we can. Try to limit the other team's time in our zone and play the O zone as much as we can. Just being a little tighter, doing the little things and trying to play in their zone."

View the Oilers Projected Lineup vs. the Sharks below:

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

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Emberson
Walman - Stastney

Ingram
Jarry