The Dallas Stars welcome the Edmonton Oilers to American Airlines Center for Game 1 of the Western Conference Final this evening. Here are the projected/expected lineups sourced from NHL.com staff writers, independent correspondents, and others
OILERS (3P) at STARS (2C)
Eastern Conference Second Round, Game 5
Western Conference Final, Game 1
8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC
Oilers Projected Lineup
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins — Connor McDavid — Zach Hyman
Vasily Podkolzin — Leon Draisaitl — Kasperi Kapanen
Evander Kane — Adam Henrique — Connor Brown
Trent Frederic — Mattias Janmark — Corey Perry
Brett Kulak — Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse — Troy Stecher
Jake Walman — John Klingberg
Stuart Skinner
Olivier Rodrigue
Scratched: Viktor Arvidsson, Joshua Brown, Cam Dineen, Ty Emberson, Max Jones, Derek Ryan, Jeff Skinner
Injured: Mattias Ekholm (undisclosed), Calvin Pickard (lower body)
Status report:
Ekholm skated at Oilers practice on Monday for the first time since being injured April 11; the defenseman took part in Edmonton’s morning skate but is not expected to be available for Game 1. … Brown will be a game-time decision; he did not participate in the morning skate and took a maintenance day at practice Monday.
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Stars Projected Lineup
Mikael Granlund — Roope Hintz — Mikko Rantanen
Jason Robertson — Matt Duchene — Wyatt Johnston
Mason Marchment — Sam Steel — Tyler Seguin
Jamie Benn — Oskar Back — Evgenii Dadonov
Thomas Harley — Miro Heiskanen
Esa Lindell — Cody Ceci
Lian Bichsel — Alexander Petrovic
Jake Oettinger
Casey DeSmith
Scratched: Mavrik Bourque, Colin Blackwell, Mathew Dumba, Ilya Lyubushkin, Brendan Smith
Injured: Nils Lundkvist (shoulder)
Status Report:
The Stars held an optional morning skate. … Dallas could dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen, coach Pete DeBoer said; the team has utilized that configuration since Heiskanen returned from knee surgery in Game 4 of the second round after being injured Jan. 28.
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