Oscar is Back! Does it help?

He has been out since mid February but the Klef-BOMB is back! The Oilers have definitely missed his minutes. Before being injured, the 26 year old Swede was putting up very good numbers. 5 goals and 28 assists for 33 points in 59 games. He is still on pace to have a career high in points despite missing 9 games. Expect him to play with Adam Larsson tonight vs Columbus and probably on the 1st powerplay unit. Activating a player usually means sending a player down and that man is William Lagesson.

WILL THIS HELP?

Well the short answer is, yes. He was averaging 25:36 TOI, which is tops on the team, before going down with a shoulder injury and those were big minutes. For the most part he was shutting down the teams best players and he was on the leagues best power play. Which has stayed tops btw! That aforementioned powerplay has been clicking without him, however Klefbom doesn't hurt. He is tied with Connor McDavid in powerplay TOI at 3:57 and has 18 powerplay points which is 4th on the team ad 10th amongst d-men in the entire NHL. It just makes an already potent powerplay even better.

WHAT WILL THE PAIRINGS BE?

Here is what they look like at morning skate today.

Klefbom-Larsson

Nurse-Bear

Jones-K. Russell

Benning

As much as I don't like Kris Russell, I get why he is in the lineup. You can't have Benning & Jones play together, just too young especially going into a key playoff run. Nurse - Bear has been great all year and now they will play the minutes that they should be playing. At around 16-20 minutes.

PLAYOFFS?

God, I can't believe I just said the P word. But let's look at it!

Per moneypuck.com and this whacky chart, the Oilers have a 92.6% chance to make the playoffs! Cool! All of these games coming up are big ones. 4 game home stand, all against teams that are currently in a playoff spot. Taking advantage of home ice is key!