After a slow start to the season which saw the Edmonton Oilers forward lines struggle to gel, they are now back on track and looking more like the offensive force of recent seasons. Ahead of Tuesday night's slate of action, they are now up to eighth in the NHL in respect of average goals scored per game.
Of course as NHL fans are well aware, you can never have too many attacking options. Along these lines, Oilers fans in particular received some encouraging news on Tuesday afternoon, courtesy of Tony Brar.
The Oilers TV host and reporter took to social media, to share the lines and pairings for Tuesday's practice. Of particular note, Viktor Arvidsson was playing on the first line, alongside Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Now yes, we appreciate that Arvidsson was in large part on the first line due to the absence of Zach Hyman, who was given the day off after being hit in the face by a shot during Monday night's frustrating 6-5 loss to the Florida Panthers. Regardless, it's a positive step that he's now back practising with the team, one week after the announcement that he had finally resumed skating on his own.
Set to play sometime this week
As you'd expect, Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch was asked by the media after practice, if Arvidsson would be back for Thursday's game versus the Boston Bruins. Knoblauch said:
"He can possibly play (on) Thursday. This is his first real practice. He's had a couple of morning skates and he's obviously been skating on his own. Today was a little different, with the tempo and body contact, so we'll see how he's feeling and then make that decision on Thursday. But the anticipation is that he will be playing sometime this week. "
While it's of course excellent news that Arvidsson is finally set to return after a longer than anticipated absence, there is still some concern. More specifically, that he hadn't played particularly well prior to his absence.
Usually a player who averages around 40 points per season, Arvidsson had just five points in his first 16 games as an Oiler. The hope is that with the team now playing better as a collective, this will rub off on the winger moving forward.
As for Hyman, Knoblauch advised that fortunately he hadn't suffered a concussion, but did sustain a broken nose and was seeing a specialist. The expectation is that he won't miss any playing time, which is excellent news with him scoring seven goals in six games since his own return from injury.