Oilers Reveal Lines Against Maple Leafs

EDMONTON -- Everyone loves a good road trip.

A big three-game road trip starts tonight for the Edmonton Oilers. They face the Toronto Maple Leafs in a city dripping with Taylor Swift Fever.

This will be the first of two meetings this season between the two teams.

On the Maple Leafs side of the puck, they will be without superstar Auston Matthews for a sixth straight game. The center has 11 points in 13 games for the 2024-25 season.

The Oilers will be without Viktor Arvidsson for another game.

"He is not," Kris Knoblauch revealed to the media in Toronto when asked if Arvidsson was good to go for tonight's game. "We'll be going 11 and 7 tonight."

With that knowledge in mind, the lineup should look similar to the last game's.

The biggest surprise here is Jeff Skinner's absence from the top six. He's hurting for a big game to propel him back up the depth chart. It is very telling to have a scoring winger not in the top six when a team is using the 11-7 formation.

Corey Perry will get another crack at the top six alongside Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin. On Thursday, Perry played a season-high 14:31.

The coaching staff is clearly looking for Skinner to find his stride with the team. He's only scored three goals and three assists this season.

If he could discover his groove on this road trip, that would help out the Oilers in a big way.

Now, we wait and see.

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