PRE-GAME REPORT: Oilers vs. Sabres

The Oilers look to win their fourth straight contest on Thursday night when the Buffalo Sabres visit Rogers Place in the fourth game of Edmonton's five-game homestand.
You can watch the game on Sportsnet West or listen on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.
Video: OILERS TODAY | Pre-Game vs BUF 03.17.22

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS
GAME DAY VIDEO
OILERS TODAY | Pre-Game vs. BUF
PRE-GAME RAW | Coach Woodcroft
PRE-GAME RAW | Russell
PRE-GAME RAW | Puljujarvi
RECENT VIDEOS
PRACTICE | Smith Returns
RAW | Mike Smith 03.16.22
RAW | Coach Jay Woodcroft 3.16.22
BY THE NUMBERS
Oilers Statistics
Sabres Statistics
Stats Comparison
Game Notes
RECENT BLOGS & ARTICLES
BLOG: Wednesday practice updates
RELEASE: Broberg loaned to Bakersfield
GAME RECAP: Oilers 7, Red Wings 5
VIEWING INFORMATION
You can watch Thursday's game on Sportsnet West at 7:00 PM MT.
News and notes from Oilers practice at Rogers Place on Wednesday, including the potential return of Jesse Puljujarvi & Kris Russell to the lineup and Mike Smith set to make his first start since Mar. 7.
**>> READ MORE IN THE INSIDE THE OILERS BLOG**
EDMONTON, AB - More reinforcements for the Blue & Orange are on the way.
Head Coach Jay Woodcroft will have some extra pieces to work with at Rogers Place on Thursday night when the Oilers go for their fourth-straight victory against the Buffalo Sabres, who'll try to improve their own streak and win three straight for the first time since the start of the '21-22 campaign.
Defenceman Kris Russell will be back in the lineup from a neck injury in a pairing with Tyson Barrie, while forward Jesse Puljujarvi has recovered from a lower-body ailment to join a line with Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman in the top six after both skaters were activated off Injured Reserve ahead of Thursday's contest.
Mike Smith, who hasn't started a game for the Oilers since Mar.5 against the Montreal Canadiens, will start between the pipes after shaking off a stomach bug and backing up Mikko Koskinen for the last two matches.
"Pretty good," said Puljujarvi on his feeling about rejoining the lineup tonight. "I'm excited to be back. It feels like a new season is starting, but it's nice to be back."
Woodcroft has seen six players return to the fold from either illness or injury over the last four games for the Oilers which includes tonight, creating plenty of options for selection on how he wants to deploy his lineup.
"It's a challenge, but also an opportunity," Woodcroft said. "It allows me to move some chess pieces around the chessboard and learn about peoples' capabilities in different roles and situations.
"I think any time you're returning NHL hockey players to a lineup, it's a good thing. When you're getting healthy, it's a good thing. It creates competition for ice time and they're good hockey players, so I think it makes our team better."
Video: PRE-RAW | Jay Woodcroft 03.17.22
Russell hasn't suited up since Jan. 31, having yet to play a game under new a new head coach and assistant coach in Woodcroft and Dave Manson, feeling his health is in a good place in order for him to be a solid contributor for the Oilers over the final 22-game stretch.
"I feel healthy and used the time to get back into good condition," he said. "To be honest, I probably haven't been this healthy at this time of the year for a lot of years, so I'm looking at it as a positive.
"I haven't actually been on the bench with these guys, so it's still an adjustment for me to some of the systems they've changed. I'll just be looking to adjust to that."
RUSSELL READY
Weeks of skating away from the group with Skating Coach David Pelletier has Russell excited to get back to game action over the countless board rushes and skating drills.
"I'm excited to get back playing. I've been skating for the past three weeks," he said. "I was getting sick of getting bag skated, so it'll be good to get into a game. It was frustrating there for a while, but we got things figured out, so it's good."
Russell left the game against the Ottawa Senators back on Jan. 31 when Brady Tkachuk finished a hard check on the blueliner, but what was revealed to be a neck issue by Russell in today's morning media avail became a problem in the games prior to the Oilers overtime defeat in the nation's capital. The issue would require the 34-year-old to take extended time off in order to heal fully and return fit for the stretch run.
Video: PRE-RAW | Kris Russell 03.17.22
"It was just something that wasn't getting better, it was getting worse, and I kind of had to make sure I got it fixed," he said. "I had the doctors telling me it got to the point where I shouldn't be playing, so I just had to get back to getting healthy again and working to get back. But it's always frustrating.
"I feel like I am one of those guys who can play through some stuff, so whenever you can't, it feels like you're letting your team down."
Russell has a reputation around the league as a take-all defender with his NHL record of 2,024 blocked shots all-time, and the Carolina, AB native wasn't used to having an injury he couldn't play through.
The players in the Oilers locker room know when they have him in the lineup, they have a warrior on their side who won't hesitate to lay the body back on the line to benefit his teammates and prove himself to a new coaching staff.
"I think everyone knows in this room what kind of game I'm going to try and bring. I play simple and try to limit chances," Russell said. "I'm playing with Tyson Barrie] tonight, so I'll try and get him the puck and get him going, but at the same time, I have to prove myself.
"I had Woody a little bit [in 2015-16] before as an assistant coach, but it's the part of the season where you've got to win. I've got to be a part of that, and if I'm not, things will probably change. I want to have a good game tonight."
**JESSE JUMPS BACK IN**
Much like the confusion on where Russell's injury arose, Puljujarvi wasn't much different.
The Finnish forward was believed to injure himself after scoring his 12th goal of the season in a 7-3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Feb. 17, but said to the media on Thursday morning that the lower-body injury that forced him out of the game came on the following shift.
One month to the day of suffering the injury, Puljujarvi was activated off IR with Russell to rejoin the Oilers top six alongside Draisaitl and Hyman.
[Video: PRE-RAW | Jesse Puljujarvi 03.17.22
"I skated with [Skating Coach David Pelletier] a couple of times; hard skates, so there is good stuff," he said.
"I'm going to try and be myself, skate hard, and win those big battles and use my speed to try to help a lot. I'll try to be myself."
Puljujarvi is pleased to be back in time to help contribute to a playoff push that's been waging the entire time he's been out of the lineup, with the Oilers going 6-5-1 in the 12 games he was out injured.
"I feel we have a good position about everything like the playoff spot, and I think we are going the right direction. It's nice to come to help the team again."
-- Jamie Umbach, EdmontonOilers.com
OILERS vs. SABRES
STREAM: 7:00 p.m. MT; televised on Sportsnet West
Oilers Team Scope
It wasn't in the prettiest of fashions, but the Oilers won their third straight game on Tuesday night with a 7-5 victory over Detroit after staking themselves to a 4-1 lead through 20 minutes before the red Wings scored three straight and erased two separate deficits.
Warren Foegele's shot that was redirected into Detroit's goal off defenceman Marc Staal for his first goal in 12 games went down as the game-winner after what Head Coach Jay Woodcroft deemed "a lot of self-inflicted errors" led to the Red Wings waging a comeback over the final two periods after the Oilers scored three times in the opening 4:35 of play.
"In the end, it's a credit to our players for finding a way to win when it got tense there," Woodcroft said.
Forward Jesse Puljujarvi and defenceman Kris Russell are poised to return to the lineup from injury on Thursday night after Puljujarvi took line rushes at Wednesday's practice in the Oilers top six and Russell skated in the third pairing with Tyson Barrie.
Mike Smith, who's had his season limited to 15 starts due to illness and injury, was in the starter's crease and will be between the pipes for the Oilers for the first time since Mar. 5.
"Obviously missing an extended period of time, it's not the way you want to go," he said. "You want to play games, but I'm not really worried about things that have already happened. I can't control that now. I'm focused on tomorrow's game and that's it, so I'm not looking too far ahead."
Sabres Team Scope
The Sabres were victorious over the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2022 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ont. on Sunday.
With 5:05 left in regulation and the Sabres enjoying a healthy lead, a scrum in the Buffalo crease led to defenceman Rasmus Dahlin taking a cross-check up high that earned Toronto forward Auston Matthews a two-game suspension.
"The cross-check from Matthews was not good," Kyle Okposo said. "I don't care that he's their best player. When you do it to arguably our best player, you're going to get a response. I don't care who you are on the other team. I think that's what that showed."
Forward Dylan Cozens delivered a retaliatory hit on Matthews after the NHL's leading scorer got out of the box from a coincidental minor with Dahlin, sending the game into a frenzy in the last minutes.
"In a normal game, if nothing had happened before that, I probably wouldn't have taken that hit," Cozens admitted. "But just seeing what he did to Ras, that was a really dangerous cross-check and a dirty cross-check by him, so I decided to go out there and finish my check on him.
The Sabres begin a three-game Western Canada road trip with the first of a back-to-back in Edmonton on Thursday night before visiting the Calgary Flames on Friday.
By The Numbers
The Oilers are 6-4-3 in their last 13 meetings with the Sabres... The Oilers have a 3-6-1 record with a -19 goal differential in their last 10 home games vs. Buffalo... The Oilers are 24-1-1 this season when scoring at least four goals, having won their last 10 games in a row when doing so... The Sabres look to win three games in a row for the first time since winning each of their first three games of the season (Oct. 14-19, 2021)... The Sabres are averaging 4.83 goals/game in their last six victories...
Connor McDavid has an NHL-high 85 points (33G, 52A) through 59 games this season...McDavid is averaging 1.49 points/game at home in his NHL career... McDavid has been held without a point in three of his four career home games vs. Buffalo... Leon Draisaitl's 39 goals this season are tied for second-most in the NHL behind Matthews (45)... Draisaitl has scored a goal in 27 games this season, while his 12 multi-goal games are the most in the NHL...
Dylan Cozens scored two goals for the Sabres, including the eventual game-winner, in a 3-2 win on Nov. 12 in their only meeting this season... Tage Thompson has a career-high & team-leading 44 points (24G, 20A) in 56 games this season and eight goals over his last 11 games... Jeff Skinner leads all Sabres players in goals (84) since joining the team in 2018-19...
Injury Report
OILERS - Kyle Turris (undisclosed) is on IR; Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (upper body) is on IR; Jesse Puljujarvi (lower body) is on IR; Kris Russell (undisclosed) is on IR.
SABRES - Casey Fitzgerald (upper body) is day-to-day; Zemgus Girgensons (lower body) is on IR: Will Butcher (lower body) is on IR; Colin Miller (upper body) is on IR; Malcolm Subban (upper body) is on IR; Drake Caggiula (neck) is on IR; Andrew Oglevie (undisclosed) is on IR; Lukas Rousek (undisclosed) is on IR; Johnny Boychuk (eye) is on IR.
-- Jamie Umbach, EdmontonOilers.com