Oilers coach Knoblauch goes nuclear with line changes at practice

Last night, the Oilers played an uncharacteristically poor game against the St. Louis Blues, and lost by a score of 6-3. Corey Perry was one of the best Oilers on the night, scoring a goal and getting into a fight to rally the team. Today at practice, Coach Knoblauch is rewarding Perry with a major promotion to the top line, along with reuniting McDavid and Draisaitl.

The entire rest of the forward group has been mangled as well. Nugent-Hopkins will now centre the second line with Kane and Hyman, and the bottom six will remain essentially the same with Gagner still scratched.

It's a nuclear change from Knoblauch after just one loss, but some bad habits have been creeping back into the Oilers game as of late, and Knoblauch has proven to have his finger on the pulse of the team with these decisions. Corey Perry surely deserved a look in the top six again after yesterday's impressive game, but changing ever other line as well is a bold choice from the coach. We'll have to see how it pans out tomorrow night on the road against the Dallas Stars.