PROJECTED LINEUP: Oilers vs. Stars

EDMONTON, AB – Despite the potential for the return of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Tuesday's meeting with the Stars at Rogers Place will arrive too soon for the Oilers' longest-tenured player, who won't be available to make his return from injury for tonight's rematch of the 2024 & 2025 Western Conference Finals.

Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said pre-game that No. 93 isn't ready to suit up against the Stars for the first time since Nov. 8, when he sustained an undisclosed injury in Edmonton's 9-1 loss to the Avalanche, but anticipates him being ready to make his return on Saturday when the Oilers visit the Kraken.

Winger Kasperi Kapanen, who's been on LTIR since suffering a lower-body injury on Oct. 19 in a 4-2 defeat to the Red Wings, could also be an option for the Oilers on Saturday in Seattle after both he and Nugent-Hopkins joined their teammates on the ice for their first full-team skate in two weeks on Monday.

Goaltender Stuart Skinner will make his second straight start for the Oilers after stopping 35 of 38 shots on Saturday's 6-3 road victory over the Panthers.

After finishing their season-high seven-game road trip with a 3-3-1 record, the Oilers will face the Stars tonight in a one-off homestand before heading back out on the road for one game this weekend in Seattle, followed by a heavy run of five straight home games to begin the month of December.

"It was a long trip, but there were ups and downs, and I thought we came out of it [positively] in the end," Adam Henrique said. "On a tough back-to-back in Tampa, I thought we played a great game there and then carried that over into Florida. Those are two tough teams, two tough buildings, and I thought we finished off the trip great. Now, it's a matter of just carrying that back for the one at home."

After their upcoming homestand next week, the Oilers will embark out East for the final time this season when they go out on the road for games against Toronto & Montreal (back-to-back), Pittsburgh, Boston and Minnesota before playing their final 15 of 22 games before the Olympic Break on home ice.

The Oilers are hoping to take advantage of the rest this week with only two games on their schedule before hitting high gear with a plethora of home games prior to the NHL breaking for three weeks in early February, feeling they've turned a corner in their final two games of their long road trip the last two weeks.

"It's obviously nice to be home, but when you're gone for a long time, you come home and it's easy just to take a breath and kind of sit back too much," Mattias Ekholm said. "So we got to realize that we're home and we're in a position where we need points, and obviously we feel comfortable playing at home, and we gotta make sure we take advantage of that and start to make our way up the standings a little bit. I think everybody's in realization of that."

Tuesday's pre-game skate was optional for the Oilers, meaning the projected lines are based on Saturday's win and will be confirmed during warm-ups ahead of tonight's 7:00pm puck drop.

View the Oilers Projected Lineup vs. the Stars below:

Savoie - McDavid - Roslovic
Podkolzin - Draisaitl - Mangiapane
Frederic - Henrique - Hyman
Clattenburg - Tomasek - Janmark

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Regula
Kulak - Emberson

Skinner
Pickard