The Edmonton Oilers are officially in do-or-die mode in Game 6 with their NHL Playoffs series set to return to Los Angeles on Thursday night. The Oilers have their backs against the wall, trailing the Kings 3-2 in the first-round matchup, which has prompted coach Jay Woodcroft to make a pretty significant lineup change for the potential elimination game. Per Oilers' reporter Jack Michaels, Woodcroft will be inserting Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid into the first line together, where they'll be joined by Kailer Yamamoto.
Typically, Draisaitl skates in the Oilers' second line alongside Zach Hyman and Yamamoto, while McDavid stars in the first-line with Evander Kane and Jesse Puljujarvi. That won't be the case Thursday night, however, as Draisaitl and Yamamoto will be joining McDavid in the first unit.
Kane, Hyman, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will be in the second line. Josh Archibald, Ryan McLeod, and Puljujarvi will be in the third line. Finally, the fourth line will consist of Warren Foegele, Derek Ryan, and Zack Kassian.
Defensively, the Oilers will be without Darnell Nurse on Thursday after the NHL Department of Player Safety issued him a one-game suspension for his violent head-butt on Kings' Phillip Danault. He'll serve the suspension in Game 6, a big loss for Edmonton.
With Nurse sidelined, the Oilers' defensive pairings will consist of the following tandems: Brett Kulak and Cody Ceci, Duncan Keith and Evan Bouchard, and Kris Russell and Tyson Barrie.
It's not common that Woodcroft elects to include Draisaitl and McDavid in the same even-strength lines, preferring to spread the star power out across the team's top two lines. But with the team in need of a major boost in Game 6, Woodcroft will deploy his two superstars on the same line together, in hopes it can spark some additional offense.