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4-10-2, 0.313 p/g	Ranks	10-4-0, 1.423 p/g
Western Conf: 14th		Eastern Conf: 2nd
29th	P/G	8th
24th	ST	7th
26th	ES	12th
30th	Goal	11th

St. Pete Times Forum

The opposing view: Raw Charge

Top Story:

• Over 18 months have passed since Linus Omark's last game in the National Hockey League. Many said he wasn't an NHL player and that he'd never see another minute of NHL action, let alone with the Oilers. All those people? They were wrong. There's a fair chance that both he and Nail Yakupov will be in the lineup tonight against the Lightning, and I'd bark like a seal if they somehow found each other on the same line.

The Oilers are saying:

"All these reports in the media about him being traded are absolutely 100% not true"

That's Oilers coach Dallas Eakins to media after practice yesterday on Nail Yakupov

Sick and tired of all the Yakupov-to-NYR rumours? Me too. I'm going to take Eakins at face value here, and say that the club is committed to Yakupov's future with the Edmonton Oilers, although it wouldn't surprise me after hearing this to see him sit a game. Sort of a compliment sandwich. "We love ya, Yaks, now take a seat". If the team is going to scratch Yakupov in order to insert Omark, I'm not really jazzed up about it. If they're going to sit both of them, I'll help light the torches.

The Opponent is saying:

"That's a good team over there and we kept it going in the third period ad we kind of took over"

That's Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop talking about the Oilers Blues after Tampa Bay's 4-2 victory in St. Louis this past Satuday. Bishop has been an instrumental start in Tampa's 10-4 start, collecting nine wins and a .925 SV% along the way.

Of note:

Linus Omark, Taylor Hall and Nail Yakupov wore yellow jerseys at practice yesterday. According to Bob Stauffer, both Yakupov and Omark were bag skated at the end of practice. Taylor Hall likely won't be in the lineup until at least Saturday, but I'm guessing that Omark and Yakupov are both in the lineup and that Gagner will be kept out an additional game due to his jaw. Keep it locked, as we'll update lines as they become available.

Projected Lines & Pairings:

The Edmonton Oilers

Ales Hemsky - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle
Ryan Smyth - Mark Arcobello -Nail Yakupov
Ryan Jones - Boyd Gordon - Linus Omark
Luke Gazdic - Will Acton - Ben Eager

Ladislav Smid - Jeff Petry
Taylor Fedun - Philip Larsen
Nick Schultz - Andrew Ference

Devan Dubnyk

The Tampa Bay Lightning

Alex Killorn - Steven Stamkos - Martin St. Louis
Ryan Malone - Valtteri Filppula - Teddy Purcell
B.J. Crombeen - Nate Thompson - Richard Panik
Brett Connolly - Tyler Johnson - Ondrej Palat

Victor Hedman - Sami Salo
Matt Carle - Radko Gudas
Eric Brewer - Mark Barberio