Game Day: Oilers vs Sharks

Edmonton (14-14-3) vs San Jose (16-10-3)

Time:      8:00pm
Where:   HP Pavilion "The Shark Tank"
Watch:   CBC
Listen:    630 CHED


Projected Line Combinations

Eberle - Nugent-Hopkins - Hall
Hemsky - Gagner - Smyth
Horcoff - Belanger - Jones
Eager - Lander- Hordichuk

As per Bob Stauffer via twitter, it looks as though the kids will be re-united for tonight's game against the San Jose Sharks. Not surprising when you consider Eberle and RNH weren't great against the Coyotes and they didn't see the ice nearly enough. Add to that, the fact that Taylor Hall looked to be in mid-season form in his first game back and it would appear that the time is now to reunite the trio. 

Having both Shawn Horcoff and Eric Belanger on the same line seems rather curious but they could make up a very good checking line along with Ryan Jones. What these lines seem to indicate, is the Oilers planning on running with three lines against the Sharks and see how they do. If the top two units can generate chances upfront, Edmonton should be able to hold their own.

Defence Pairings 

Gilbert - Smid
Whitney - Petry
Potter - Peckham

Corey Potter was good in his return against Phoenix on Thursday night and look for him to be pushed back up into a top four role in the not to distant future.

Netminder  

Nikolai Khabibulin

It appears as though whatever was troubling Nikolai Khabibulin is a thing of the past. The veteran netminder will be making his return to the Oilers starting lineup and it couldn't come at a better time. Khabibulin has missed three of the last four games and not surprisingly, Edmonton has gone 1-3 during that stretch and have lost all three games that the Russian goaltender missed.