San Jose looks to take the edge against the Oilers in game five tonight at 7:30 p.m. PT in Edmonton with the series tied at two games apiece. The Sharks are coming off their most impressive offensive performance in postseason history, scoring seven goals, with four of those coming on the power play.
The series shifts back to Alberta, and with it Edmonton head coach Todd McLellan gets last change. We’ll see if he uses it to his advantage against the new-look San Jose lineup that head coach Pete DeBoer utilized in game four. Mikkel Boedker draws into the lineup for the Sharks, who played their best game of the postseason on Tuesday. Joonas Donskoi is benched as a result.
Edmonton might decide to shift things around a bit after a humiliating defeat in game four. Leon Draisaitl avoided suspension after spearing Chris Tierney, but a nagging injury has kept him from practicing before the last two games and he appeared to be favoring his shoulder in game four. Keep an eye on that — and on McLellan’s usage of the center in game five.
As has been the case all series, we won’t know for sure what lines we’re working with until the pre-game rushes, but here’s what both teams used in game four according to hockeyviz.com.
Sharks Projected Lines
Patrick Marleau – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Mikkel Boedker – Logan Couture – Jannik Hansen
Timo Meier – Tomas Hertl – Melker Karlsson
Marcus Sorensen – Chris Tierney – Joel Ward
Paul Martin – Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon – David Schlemko
Martin Jones
Projected Edmonton Lines
Patrick Maroon – Connor McDavid – Anton Slepyshev
Milan Lucic – Ryan Nugent Hopkins – Jordan Eberle
Drake Caggiula – Leon Draisaitl – Zack Kassian
David Desharnais – Mark Letestu – Derek Pouliot
Kris Russell – Andrej Sekera
Oscar Klefbom – Adam Larsson
Darnell Nurse – Matt Benning
Cam Talbot
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