PROJECT LINEUP: Oilers vs. Kings

Going with one less forward will give the Oilers more chances to get Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the ice, but the importance of continuing to receive deep scoring like they did Saturday night in Chicago remains against a difficult Los Angeles lineup. that match up. welcome them.

“Our team is driven, especially offensively, on Draisaitl and McDavid,” Knoblauch said. “When they play well, they lead the way almost every night, but we need secondary scoring. We need another guy to step up, and the other night we saw Corey Perry score a key goal at the end of second. Podkolzin scored and we need more of those games.

“Lately I think we’ve been playing great and the two players that you mentioned, especially Podkolzin, he’s pretty much been playing with Leon for most of the year. In that game we made some little line changes with Perry and Podkolzin swapped places and they both came up with very important goals.”

Winger Warren Foegele had a goal and two assists in the Kings’ last win over the Oilers before the new year and has made a strong start to life in Los Angeles with 11 goals and 12 assists in 40 games.

“Just really good on the puck down low,” Knoblauch said. “He’s very quick, he’s fast and he can shoot the puck. He’s got one of the better wrist shots and he can get it away, but I think most of his goals are just to be quick and get around the net. Like any team or player, most of the goals are around the blue paint. He’s fast, he’s strong, and he can get there.