PROJECTED LINEUP: Oilers at Utah HC
Forward Kasperi Kapanen will maintain his spot on the top line next to Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, having recorded one assist in two games so far with the Oilers since being claimed off waivers last week from the St. Louis Blues.
"I think there's still room to improve, but that first game, I didn't play for a while and was kind of just getting my legs back into it," Kapanen said. "Now that we've had five days in between games, the body feels good, so excited for tonight."
The Finnish forward is finding it hard to describe the feeling of riding shotgun to the League's greatest player at this early point in his Oilers tenure and is keen to continue developing chemistry with No. 97 in Edmonton's first visit to Salt Lake City on Friday to face the NHL's newest franchise.
"I'm kind of lost for words to be honest," he said of playing with McDavid. "After that game against New York, I'm surprised he doesn't have 2,000 points by now. He's a tremendous hockey player. He's obviously the best out there, so I'm just trying to keep up with him, be available and get him the puck."