The only redeeming feature to arise from Evander Kane’s one-game suspension for Edmonton Oilers fans is that they may get a look at top prospect Dylan Holloway tonight in Game 4.
The six-foot-one, 203-pound speedster only took a brief morning skate before coming off the ice. Normally, the players not expected to play take a much longer morning workout on a game day. Winger Brad Malone — who saw his first playoff action in Game 3 — also looks to be back in the lineup.
In typical Jay Woodcroft fashion, the head coach wouldn’t tip his hand on his lineup: “Philip Broberg is a good example of a young player that has a lot to offer and he’s healthy and available to us. Dylan Holloway is healthy and available to us,” Woodcroft said. “We’ve got a lot of great people to choose from. We’re going to make the right choice tonight.”
Holloway is Edmonton’s top forward prospect, and came on late in his first pro season to score eight goals and 14 assists in 33 games with AHL Bakersfield. He’s a lock to play in Edmonton next season, and with Kane out why not take a sneak peak at the 20-year-old left winger tonight?
Mike Smith starts in goal, as the Oilers do what every 0-3 team has ever done: “We have a Game 7 mindset now, right?” said Zach Hyman.
Fans and media may roll their eyes at the “take it one game at a time” quotes, but as Tyson Barrie said, “We’re the ones playing the game. You guys can roll your eyes all you want.
“I’m going to go have my pre-game meal and prepare like we do for every game. You don’t play three in a row, you don’t play four in a row; it’s one at a time,” he said. “For us, it’s just a simple fact of what we’ve been doing all year. We’ll come prepared tonight to win one game and we know what we’re up against. If you look at the statistics, it’s bleak. But the only way to do it is how we’ve been doing it all year, and that’s one game at a time.”
As for the Colorado Avalanche, they’re looking to wrap up the series as quickly as possible and centre Darren Helm recognizes the significance of being a single victory away from returning to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in more than a decade.
“I think you definitely are in the moment. You don’t take things for granted,” said Helm, who won the Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 2008. “My first two years we went to the Final both times. So this is an exciting moment. I think everybody realizes what’s at stake and we’re excited.”
Three games in, the injuries mount
The injuries are piling up in this series, with Avalanche star Nazem Kadri confirmed out for the rest of the round with a suspected broken right thumb, and Oilers forward Kailer Yamamoto (suspected concussion) ruled out of Game 4 after a hit from Gabriel Landeskog in Game 2.
Avs goalie Darcy Kuemper (upper-body) has missed most of the last two games but may return at any time and might even serve as the backup for Pavel Francouz in Game 4, and tonight Kane will serve his one-game suspension for a dangerous hit on Kadri.
This series, as it turns out, is no place for a nervous person.
“I think guys are just playing really hard and it’s a consequence of that,” said Edmonton winger Hyman. “There has been more injuries in this series than in our (entire) run, I think — on both sides. Two of their guys have blocked shots and aren’t playing, Naz is out. Yamo’s out.
“I think it speaks to the pace of play. It’s definitely one of the fastest series in a long time, just the speed of both teams and the pace. The puck is moving up and down the ice. It’s the playoffs, the Western Conference Final. I guess, to be expected.”
Leon Draisaitl left Game 3 briefly after a hard slew foot from Nathan MacKinnon. He’s not holding any grudges though.
“I don’t think anything is ever taken personally,” said Draisaitl. “Both teams want to make it to the Stanley Cup Final. You do whatever it takes. Obviously, there are situations where it’s on the line, or it’s close, but that’s the way hockey is being played. That’s the way hockey has always been played. It’s a tough game.”
Lineup secrets
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar took a similar approach to Woodcroft when it came to secrecy regarding the lineup.
Bednar did confirm that Kadri has returned to Denver for further evaluation, but wouldn’t come out and say who would replace him in the lineup or suggest who would move into the second-line centre role.
The most likely option for Kadri’s role is Mikko Rantanen, though J.T. Compher could be in line for a promotion from the third line to the second given how well he’s been playing (five goals in his past four games, including the game-winner in Game 3).
“Depending on what they do with their lines, we’ll have a couple options ready,” said Bednar. “Certain matchups that I like more than others against some of their talent. We’ll look at that. We do have a bunch of different guys that can go in there.
“We can structure our lineup in a number of ways. We’ll pick the one that we feel suits the game tonight as we go through it and may need to change it as we go through the game, as well.”
Winger Andre Burakovsky is expected to return to the Avalanche lineup after missing the past two games with a suspected foot injury, the result of blocking a shot from Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard.
During the regular season, the Avalanche tested out a number of different options with the line combinations, some of which were the result of not having players available.
There were also times where Colorado did some experimentation because the cushion they’d built at the top of the Central Division allowed them a bit more freedom to go through some trial and error.
“There’s no question it helps,” said Bednar. “Going through it last year and seeing what we saw in the playoffs and some of the struggles that we had at times, you adjust on the fly and some of the things that you’re trying, we didn’t get to for long stretches in the regular season. This year, we saw early on that with a little bit more depth, (we had) a few more options.
“Sometimes we were forced into it because of injuries and other times we had full lineups and we played with it a little bit. We were able to do that because of where we were sitting in the standings. Now, guys have a little bit of chemistry with each other and they know what to expect from one another. They’ve been in some of those combinations before and had success. Some that we tried didn’t work, so we’re kind of going back to the ones that we liked and I think it’s good because it’s not new.”
“Now, guys have a little bit of chemistry with each other and they know what to expect from one another. They’ve been in some of those combinations before and had success. Some that we tried didn’t work, so we’re kind of going back to the ones that we liked and I think it’s good because it’s not new.”
An immaterial opinion
There wasn’t a whole lot of news when it came to the reaction to the news of Kane’s one-game suspension for knocking Kadri out of the series.
Woodcroft said “his opinion was immaterial” while Bednar said “it was irrelevant” and his focus was solely on Game 4.
“(Bednar) already touched on it. It’s the dirtiest hit in hockey,” said Avalanche defenceman Jack Johnson. “We figured some form of suspension was going to come down.”
Predicting the Game 4 lines
Edmonton Oilers
We’re taking a run at these Oilers lines, with no real practice held Monday morning. Yamamoto and Kane are confirmed as out, and we’ll guess that Holloway and Malone are in.
Woodcroft did confirm that Smith starts in goal:
Draisaitl / McDavid / Kassian
Holloway / Nugent-Hopkin / Hyman
Foegele / McLeod / Puljujarvi
Malone / Ryan
Nurse / Ceci
Keith / Bouchard
Kulak / Barrie
Russell
Smith (Koskinen)
Colorado Avalanche
Here are the projected lines for the Avalanche for Game 4
Landeskog / MacKinnon / Nichushkin
Lehkonen / Rantanen / Burakovsky
Newhook / Compher / Sturm
Cogliano / Helm / O’Connor
Toews / Makar
J. Johnson / Manson
Byram / E. Johnson
Francouz (Kuemper)
