PROJECTED LINEUP: Bouchard a game-time decision vs. Golden Knights

EDMONTON, AB – Defenceman Evan Bouchard will be a game-time decision for the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday afternoon when they welcome the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights to Rogers Place for the second time this season.

Bouchard registered two assists in Thursday’s massive 7-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild before he exited the game during the third period with an apparent upper-body injury that was the result of being shouldered into the post by forward Ryan Hartman on a dump-and-chase.

The 25-year-old blueliner didn’t participate in Friday’s practice for the Oilers at the Downtown Community Arena but has appeared to avoid any potential major injury despite his status for Saturday’s matinée meeting with the Golden Knights remaining 50-50, Head Coach Kris Knoblauch stated.

“Obviously, he didn’t skate today. He'll get evaluated tomorrow and he'll be a game-time decision,” Knoblauch said after Friday’s skate.

“He got banged up a little bit, but we don’t think it’s anything major. And like I said, tomorrow we'll find out. He's probably 50-50 to play tomorrow.”

Bouchard’s eighth multi-point game of the season in Minnesota made it 15 points (3G, 12A) over the last 14 games for the Oakville, Ont. product, whose potential absence on Saturday would force the Oilers into trying to replace their power-play quarterback and his average ice time of 23:39 this season.

“He's kind of the unique defenceman we have on our back end,” Mattias Ekholm said. “He's the offensive guy; he's the go-to guy when it comes to scoring goals and creating offence. So if that's the case, then obviously that’d be a big loss. But we have a lot of pieces in here that if they're out, they're big losses, and we know that we've had big guys out throughout this year, too.

"The next-man-up mentality’s going to apply and we'll have to take on some more responsibility.”

The Oilers had only five defencemen participate in practice on Friday – a number that was reduced by injuries to Evan Bouchard (upper body) and newcomer Alec Regula (knee), along with the corresponding loss of blueliner Travis Dermott on waivers to the Wild.

During Friday's practice, Mattias Ekholm was paired with Ty Emberson, who would likely be called upon to help fill in for the vacancy of Bouchard if the latter's unable to go on Saturday against the Golden Knights.

Emberson had an impactful performance against the Wild on Thursday, recording an assist and a fight in 15:13 of ice time as he gains confidence as a regular contributor for the Oilers with only 57 career games of NHL experience.

“Don't they say you can judge a D-man after 300 games? Or is it 200? I don't know,” Ekholm said when describing Emberson. “But it's great. He's very mature off the ice. He's a very calm guy and it seems like nothing's really phasing him, which is a great attribute to have. And if you're going to play in this league, you’ve got to stay even-keeled because this game will keep you honest.

“I think that his legs are his biggest assets. He really skates well and he can skate out of trouble with the puck and make plays. He's got all the tools. I'm excited to see where his future goes because he's just scratching the surface with this game, and I'm sure he's going to build it even more throughout his career.”

Edmonton recalled defenceman Josh Brown from the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors to ensure they’ll have six defencemen for Saturday’s visit from Vegas.

The Oilers Projected Lineup vs. Vegas below is based on Friday's team skate at the Downtown Community Arena:

Nugent-Hopkins - McDavid - Hyman
Podkolzin - Draisaitl - Kapanen
Skinner - Henrique - Janmark
Perry - Ryan - Brown

Ekholm - Emberson
Nurse - Stecher
Kulak - Brown

Skinner
Pickard

Extras: Evan Bouchard (GTD), Alec Regula