Ekholm, Klingberg to miss 3rd straight game as Oilers face Sabres

Edmonton Oilers star Conbor McDavid skates in on Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen during NHL action on March 9, 2024, in Buffalo, N.Y. (Jeffrey T. Barnes/AP)

Two important names on the Edmonton Oilers blue line are out of action again.

Both Mattias Ekholm and John Klingberg will miss Monday’s 5 p.m. MT game against the Buffalo Sabres, the third in a row for the defencemen who are nursing minor injuries. They last saw action in Tuesday’s 6-2 home loss to the Anaheim Ducks.

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch told media after the morning skate at Buffalo’s KeyBank Center that “it’s really important (his players) rest and recover” at this point of the regular-season schedule. Edmonton has 19 games remaining before the National Hockey League playoffs begin in late April.

“We obviously want to get those guys as healthy as possible for the stretch,” Knoblauch said.

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Ekholm, the 34-year-old fixture on the team’s top defensive pairing alongside Evan Bouchard, was one of three Oilers who played in the 4 Nations Face-Off in mid-February, the others being fellow Swede Viktor Arvidsson and Canadian hero Connor McDavid.

They missed out on a two-week break enjoyed by players who didn’t take part in the four-team national best-on-best replacement for this year’s NHL all-star game and festivities.

Klingberg, 32, signed a one-year contract with the Oilers in mid-January after missing more than a year due to hip surgery. The former star Dallas Stars blueliner played just 14 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs last season before having surgery in December 2023.

Recent defensive addition Jake Walman, who the Oilers acquired at the NHL trade deadline on Friday from the San Jose Sharks, will skate alongside Bouchard on the top pairing against the Sabres.

Skinner to face former team

Winger Jeff Skinner draws into the Oilers' lineup Monday on the third line alongside Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown against his former team after last playing his other ex-squad.

Skinner hasn’t been a regular in the team’s lineup this season after signing a one-year, a $3-million contract with Edmonton in July, ostensibly to play among their top-six forwards.

His last Oilers action came nine days ago in the 3-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes that ended a five-game losing skid. Skinner played eight seasons for the Hurricanes after they drafted seventh overall in 2010.

Knoblauch said the Oilers don’t want players “sitting for a long period of time” as the post-season draws closer.

“We’re going to need them in the playoffs or down the stretch,” the head coach said, adding Skinner has been “doing everything we’ve asked from him.”

“It hasn’t gone as well as we anticipated, just with finding a fit (in) who he was playing with,” Knoblauch said.

“But any time you can add somebody who (is) better in leadership, somebody who’s got over 1,000 games scored as many goals as he has *368 over his career) ... you can never have enough good players, and obviously he’s a good player.”

The Oilers' game in Buffalo is the first of a four-game road trip that will also see them face off against the trio of teams in the New York City area: the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, the New York Islanders on Friday and the New York Rangers on Sunday.

Edmonton, minus beat Buffalo 3-2 on Jan. 25 in their only other game this season.

Projected lineups

Oilers

Forward

• Ryan Nugent-Hopkins • Connor McDavid • Zach Hyman
• Vasily Podkolzin • Leon Draisaitl • Viktor Arvidsson
• Jeff Skinner • Mattias Janmark • Connor Brown
• Max Jones • Adam Henrique • Corey Perry

Defence

• Jake Walman • Evan Bouchard
• Darnell Nurse • Troy Stecher
• Brett Kulak • Ty Emberson

Goal

• Stuart Skinner • Calvin Pickard

Sabres

Forward

• JJ Peterka • Josh Norris • Tage Thompson
• Jason Zucker • Ryan McLeod • Alex Tuch
• Jack Quinn • Peyton Krebs • Zach Benson
• Jordan Greenway • Josh Dunne • Beck Malenstyn

Defence

• Bowen Byram • Rasmus Dahlin
• Jacob Bryson • Owen Power
• Mattias Samuelsson • Connor Clifton

Goal

• Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen • James Reimer