LOS ANGELES — In Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final last year, Evander Kane went minus-3 with no points or shots on net. That was it.
A player whose core injury would not even allow him to sit on the bench between shifts — he would routinely stand at the end of the bench throughout last spring’s playoff run — Kane’s ability to play hurt and still help the team had expired. That was June 10.
Ten months and two surgeries later, Kane returns to Edmonton’s lineup for the first time on Wednesday in Los Angeles.
He’ll play left wing on the second line with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman. Whether or not he puts any points on the board, Kane’s health is vastly improved from his last NHL appearance.
“It’s night and day from the last time you saw me in a playoff game,” Kane said after the morning skate Wednesday. “I’m just thinking about … trying to help (the) team win, and not really think that it’s my first game, playoffs, Game 2, we’re down one in the series.
“You know, thinking is not going to help me,” he joked.
An Oilers lineup that can always use some size and physicality welcomes Kane, as he tries to navigate jumping onto the moving train that is playoff hockey after not having played a single game all season long.
“Evander is obviously going to have some rust. He’s not going to be at 100 per cent with his game,” Knoblauch said. “But definitely one attribute that he’ll be bringing is his physicality. He’s healthy, he’ll be able to finish checks and play his kind of game.
“And shooting the puck, there’s no hesitation there.”
A lasting memory of Kane came from 2022, in the first of four straight Round 1 meetings between these teams. He scored the empty netter that sealed Game 6 and sent the series back to Edmonton for Game 7, holding up seven fingers to the fans as he celebrated the goal.
“It probably helps that we’ve played this team four years in a row. So it feels like any other game, playing the Kings in this barn,” Kane said. “It’s a fun atmosphere to play in. There might be a little nervousness, but nothing that’s going to impact my game in a negative fashion.”
How they line up
While the Kings lineup is identical to Game 1, the Oilers shook things up a bit.
Off the morning skate, it appears they’ll go to their nuclear option right from the opening draw in Game 2, putting Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the top line together, with Corey Perry on the right side to start.
Kane draws in on the second line, replacing Jeff Skinner in the lineup, while Draisaitl’s usual wingers — Vasily Podkolzin and Viktor Arvidsson — will be centred by Mattias Janmark.
On the back end, Josh Brown comes out and John Klingberg comes off injured reserve for his first playoff game as an Oiler. The pairings suggest a more well-rounded approach compared to Game 1 when Evan Bouchard, Darnell Nurse and Brett Kulak each played 24:58 or more.
Here are your lineups:
Draisaitl-McDavid-Perry
Kane-RNH-Hyman
Frederic-Henrique-Brown
Podkolzin-Janmark-Arvidsson
Nurse-Bouchard
Walman-Klingberg
Kulak-Emberson
Skinner
Kuzmenko-Kopitar-Kempe
Fiala-Byfield-Laferriere
Foegele-Danault-Moore
Malott-Helenius-Turcotte
Anderson-Doughty
Gavrikov-Spence
Edmundson-Clarke
Kuemper
Klinger on the radar
Klingberg blocked a shot with his foot back on March 5. After missing 10 games, he returned in Seattle, only to see his foot blow up like a balloon post-game. He didn’t play again the rest of the season, as doctors got control of the infection that had set in.
With Brown only playing 4:54 in Game 1, Klingberg enters Wednesday in a role that appears to be scheduled for a little more ice time.
“He’s a guy that’s had a long NHL career (11 seasons), a lot of playoff games (63), and he can handle the pressure of the moment. Certainly we feel that he’s going to be playing more than (Brown),” Knoblauch said. “Especially if we’re trailing in a game. He can give us some offence also, but in all situations, we like our six guys playing a little bit more.”
It’s a cruel game
Jeff Skinner had to wait 15 seasons and 1,078 games for his first playoff appearance. Tonight, with Kane joining the Oilers lineup, Skinner will take a seat in the press box as a healthy scratch.
Knoblauch explained his rationale.
“We only need so many guys to be on the power play. We only need so many guys to play top six, skilled positions. We need guys to be able to kill penalties,” Knoblauch said. “There’s nothing against Jeff’s game the other night. It’s just that we’re putting in Evander tonight, we had to take somebody out, and everyone’s got a role.”
With Kasperi Kapanen having been taken out in favour of Trent Frederic, the Oilers are down a penalty-killing forward. Kane plays neither special team, nor does Skinner. Thus the replacement.
