Scenes from Morning Skate: Oilers’ McDavid doesn’t skate, Dickinson ‘game-time’ decision before Game 6 |
Neither Connor McDavid nor Jason Dickinson participated in morning skate for the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.
The Oilers are again in a must-win situation ahead of Game 6 against the Anaheim Ducks. McDavid and Dickinson didn’t take morning skate before Game 5, either, and were listed as “game-time decisions.” Both played.
“We won 4-1. We liked a lot of things about it, but we also know that the game plan is going to change a little bit. Them having the home ice, they control the matchups,” said coach Kris Knoblauch about his team.
Ice times returned to normal McDavid levels, though, after playing fewer than 20 minutes in Game 4. In Game 5, he played 24:09, his second-highest ice time of the series. After starting the series pointless in back-to-back contests, he has two points in each of the last three.
Playing most of the game with a three-goal lead, the centre who saw limited minutes was Jason Dickinson, the third lowest amongst Edmonton forwards with 10:20. He played six shifts in the third period.
Trent Frederic was a healthy scratch Tuesday, and took McDavid’s place in line rushes on Thursday. Knoblauch spoke on Wednesday about the decision to inject Colton Dach back into the lineup in Frederic’s place.
“With Dach coming back, we feel that he’s been playing really well with his speed, his physicality. Also, the importance of Lazar,” said Knoblauch. “We talked about those faceoffs on the penalty kill. Lazar was part of that last night that we needed him.”
Different........