Oilers' Nurse to see time on right-side D against Hurricanes

A change of usual blueline sides? That's all right with Edmonton Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse.

The left-shooting Nurse is slated to line up on the right side of his team's blueline Tuesday night as they face the visiting Carolina Hurricanes (7 p.m.)

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Nurse was skating on the right-hand side with partner Travis Dermott during the Oilers' morning skate eight hours before the scheduled start time of the game at Rogers Place.

Both Nurse and Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said Nurse would trade sides with Dermott over the game.

Nurse told media after the skate he had been taking repetitions on his 'off' side in recent practices.

He said playing there, he finds the angles and what he's seeing during play "are a little bit different."

"You've got to make some adjustments, whether it's skating more in certain situations, and knowing where the puck's going to go before you get it, but it's just hockey on a different side of the ice," Nurse said.

The Oilers have three right-shot defencemen among the seven on their roster: Evan Bouchard, Troy Stecher and Ty Emberson. The Oilers are using six defencemen for Tuesday's game and Emberson isn't dressing, so the second pairing of Nurse and Dermott will feature two lefties.

Knoblauch told media Tuesday giving Nurse more shifts on his 'off' side comes with pros and cons, the pros including more effective checking when defending off the rush, the relative ease of carrying the puck into the offensive zone and of carrying it to the middle of the ice while in that zone.

Wary of Hurricanes' man-on-man defence

Carolina's man-on-man approach to defending, which stands in contrast to other teams who've finished in the upper reaches of the standings in recent years -- such as the Vegas Golden Knights and Boston Bruins -- who play a zone-style defence, requires the Oilers to try to change their approach when it comes to generated scoring chances, Knoblauch said.

"There are some things that we can do, but when you're playing against a team that plays man-on-man, it's easy to get playing on the perimeter," he said.

"Having possession of the puck and having some cycles or scissors ... it looks nice, but ultimately, it's not efficient. You need to get the puck to the middle of the ice, into the slot. That's where you get the goals, and so we ought to make an effort of driving that puck, getting into the dangerous areas."

Nurse more 'physical'

When told he seemed to be more engaged physically so far this season, Nurse said he's been making an effort to play that way.

"It's probably an area of my game that I wasn't happy with over the last year and a bit," he told media. "I probably didn't bring that element enough, and this season, it's definitely something that I want to bring and then try to bring on a nightly basis."

Nurse said playing more physically also "brings out the skating element" of his game.

"You want to close on things quick," he said. "You want to be in people's faces."

Forward line changes

Top Oilers scorers Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl will centre their own lines against the Hurricanes after playing together on the top forward unit the last three games.

Also: expect Corey Perry and Vasily Podkolzin to play more than their fourth-line assignment suggests. Knoblauch said it's "a little bit of a reward" for the wingers.

"I think they've played really well," he said. "Since the start of the season, they've been pretty much stapled on that fourth line. I think this is just an opportunity for them to move up in the lineup, get a little more responsibility."

Oilers' projected lineup

Forward

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins • Connor McDavid • Zach Hyman

Jeff Skinner• Leon Draisaitl • Viktor Arvidsson

Mattias Janmark • Derek Ryan • Connor Brown

Vasily Podkolzin • Adam Henrique • Corey Perry

Defence

Mattias Ekholm • Evan Bouchard

Travis Dermott • Darnell Nurse

Brett Kulak • Troy Stecher

Goal

Stuart Skinner • Calvin Pickard