Belanger returns to fill void at centre
Petrell back on wing, Smyth stays in middle with RNH out
Lennart Petrell, a steady sort who has been entrenched in the Edmonton Oilers lineup as a winger ever since he arrived two seasons ago, found himself pinch-hitting as a centre the other night.
With Ryan Nugent-Hopkins a late scratch on Wednesday because of the flu and Eric Belanger still out with a groin injury, Petrell centred the fourth line in the 4-3 shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks.
He won two of the five faceoffs he took, although he didn’t take any after the second period, and he was quick to admit he was ready to return to regular duty — despite his post-practice banter with Belanger.
“Do you think he still fits in the lineup after my game?,” said Petrell, who will be back on the wing on Saturday when the Oilers close out their fourgame homestand against the St. Louis Blues.
Belanger was expected to make his way back to the lineup after missing the last two weeks with a groin injury. Not only he is sporting a team-high 53.9 per cent in the faceoff circle, he’ll be able to relieve Sam Gagner and Shawn Horcoff.
Nugent-Hopkins isn’t expected to play against the Blues, so veteran winger Ryan Smyth will stay in the middle.
“That will be a huge help,” said Gagner.
“You’re asking a lot of guys to jump from the wing to centre and guys have done a really good job ... but it will be good to have him back to take some of the pressure off. It’s tough to be thrown into that role, especially in pressure situations.
Horcoff said the other benefit of having Belanger back will be having another centre to take turns playing on the penalty kill. He can eat up some valuable minutes there, too.
“He’ll stabilize us on the penalty kill and then there’s the faceoff factor, which we all know we have a hard time on a given night to push ourselves over 50 per cent,” said Oilers head coach Ralph Krueger. “That will certainly change things.
“When we’re talking about game closing strategies, one of the ways to really help yourself is to win 60 per cent of your faceoffs in the last 10, 15 minutes of the game. We’ve had trouble with that,” Krueger continued. “So often teams are getting possession when we are in a closing mode, so he will help to improve those situations.”
To get Belanger back on the roster, the Oilers will either have to put Nugent-Hopkins on the injured reserve list, or move Teemu Hartikainen to the Oklahoma City Barons of the American Hockey League, which is the probable course of action.
“I didn’t think I’d be out this long, but that’s how it is with a groin. You never know,” said Belanger, who was back in the lineup in early February after he broke a couple of toes blocking a shot.
Because his walk was compromised during the healing process, his back started to act up during the team’s nine-game road trip, then he injured his groin in the March 8 game against the Nashville Predators.
“But it was hard watching that game the other night. I wanted to be out there,” Belanger said. “That was one of the hardest to watch, mostly because I knew I was close to getting back into the lineup.
“You always want to be a part of those games where you have a two-goal lead going into the third.”
Petrell, meanwhile, played centre as a junior and he saw some spot duty there when he was playing with HIFK Helsinski, but he hadn’t played the position at all in the NHL.
“It’s a different game, especially at this level,” he said. “Usually I’m not thinking too much on the ice, I’m just acting and reacting. But the other night I really had to pay attention to what I was doing.”