View the Oilers projected lines, defence pairings & starting goaltender for Saturday's concluding match of Edmonton's five-game road trip against Carolina at Lenovo Center on Saturday
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RALEIGH, NC – Goaltender Calvin Pickard will start in front of an unchanged lineup for the Edmonton Oilers when they close out their five-game road trip on Saturday night at Lenovo Center against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Pickard will make his 20th start of the season and is 14-6-0 with a 2.69 goals-against average and .989 save percentage, having lost his last two appearances after earning the win in his previous six starts.
An unchanged lineup for the Oilers means forward Matt Savoie will be the extra forward and sit out his second straight game, while defenceman Darnell Nurse will miss back-to-back games with an undisclosed injury.
Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said it was important to show faith in the same players who put in a much better effort against the Florida Panthers in Thursday’s 4-3 loss in Sunrise as they try to close out their five-game road trip with a victory and put an end to their five-game losing streak.
“It’s not necessarily the lines right now or the personnel. It’s just getting the most out of everyone,” Knoblauch said. “Everyone’s stepping up their game a little bit and you know, I thought our compete level was better. Our execution was a little bit better. This road trip hasn’t gone nearly as well as it should have. We’re not playing to our level, but like I said last game, we made a step forward. We’ve got to continue doing that. We still have areas to improve upon.”
Kris talks with the media on Saturday morning in Raleigh
View the Oilers Projected Lineup vs. Carolina below:
Nugent-Hopkins – McDavid – Hyman
Skinner – Draisaitl – Arvidsson
Janmark – Henrique – Brown
Podkolzin – Kapanen – Perry
Ekholm – Bouchard
Stecher – Emberson
Kulak – Klingberg
Pickard
Skinner
