PROJECTED LINEUP: Jeff Skinner draws back in for New Year's Eve clash vs. Utah

EDMONTON, AB – Head Coach Kris Knoblauch confirmed that forward Jeff Skinner will draw back into the lineup for the Edmonton Oilers on New Year’s Eve when they host Utah Hockey Club for the first time tonight at Rogers Place.

Without revealing the full changes, Knoblauch said following Tuesday’s optional pre-game skate that Edmonton’s lines will be “moved around a little bit,” meaning we’ll have to wait until warmup ahead of tonight's 7:08 pm MT puck drop to know how he’ll deploy his 12 forwards.

“They're a younger group with a lot of skill, especially up front, and they rely a lot on entries,” Knoblauch said of Utah. “You see some teams that are heavy-forward, checking teams and I think they've got a lot of skill from their forward group that likes to carry, make plays and are very dangerous."

The Oilers are less worried about their opposition and more focused on their own game heading into the final game of 2024, coming off back-to-back defeats to Los Angeles and Anaheim following the holiday break after winning 11 of their previous 13 games (11-2-0).

Edmonton knows the type of talent that Utah boasts from their 4-3 overtime road victory over the NHL’s newest franchise in late November, needing a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins overtime-winner to claim the extra point for the Oilers in a tough first visit to Salt Lake City.

“They got some skill up front. They're a fast team,” Mattias Ekholm said. “It was a tough game in Utah. We obviously came out with the win in overtime, but we know they're a skilled group and they usually have a good power play. We gotta make sure we're on top of our game.

“I don't necessarily love looking at the opponent too much. I think it's more about us. I know what our group can do. And when we're on top of our game, good things usually happen.”

The Oilers accepted their 4-3 defeat to the Kings back on Saturday, losing a close one to a Pacific Division rival who they’re neck and neck with in the standings, but the loss in Anaheim the following afternoon was harder to stomach, getting dominated at five-on-five for the final period-and-a-half and giving up four straight goals.

"I thought we played a good game against LA," Nugent-Hopkins said. "It was a tight game the whole time, and we were up going into third. They got one, tied it up and then it went into overtime, so I thought it could have gone either way there.

"In Anaheim, we didn't play our best. We know that in the second period, they kind of took over and we just sat back and definitely didn't play the way that we wanted to. I think that game, we could have done a lot more and played a lot better, but I thought against LA, we actually played a pretty solid game."

The Blue & Orange will try to ring in the new year with an effort that fits the occasion, hoping to put their past two defeats behind them and respond before the calendar turns over to 2025 at midnight.

"I think over the past couple of years, we've been good at responding in games where we needed to," Nugent-Hopkins said. "And I think when you lose a couple in a row, you've got to have that sense of urgency and just dial it up a little bit more. I expect that from us tonight. But obviously, you never want to string together a streak of losses, so it takes a mature team to find its way out of that."

As the NHL's oldest teams (30.86), that comes naturally for the Oilers, who'll entertain one of the League's youngest sides in Utah (27.41 – fifth youngest) who are enjoying a strong stretch of form with an 8-4-3 record in their last 15 games.

"It's 82 games, so you're gonna have off nights and that was one of ours," Nugent-Hopkins added. "You don't want to have them too often. You don't want to have them string together, but I think we don't linger on things too long – good or bad – so tonight, we're going to start fresh here and I expect a good one from us tonight.

Utah arrive in Edmonton for the second of back-to-back games after losing 5-2 to the Seattle Kraken on Monday night, but from experience, that doesn’t always necessarily mean there’s an advantage for the team who’s had extra rest, says Ekholm.

“It's funny how that works,” he said. “The general sense of it is you should have an advantage. But sometimes, you play back-to-back and you get in late or whatever, but you feel great the next day.

“Again, we don't try to look too much at them, and we always want to have a good start. That's obviously important tonight, and I can see why it's actually an advantage that they played last night. It can be a good thing for the legs, or you feel good, so it’s a big game for us, and we obviously want to get off to a good start.”

View the Oilers Projected Lineup vs. Utah below:

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

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Stecher
Kulak - Emberson

Skinner
Pickard