Let's not get ready to rumble

Forget about seeing a slugfest between Steve MacIntyre and Montreal Canadians enforcer George Laraque tonight, reports the Edmonton Journal.

That’s because Craig MacTavish might not play his enforcer as he was not seen in a lineup during Tuesday’s practice.

MacT might pair up Zack Stortini, Kyle Brodziak and Liam Reddox tonight on the fourth line and Stortini isn’t the right guy to drop the gloves against the Laraque, a former Oiler tough guy.

But forget about fights, how about defence tonight?

Montreal was shellacked at the hands of the Calgary Flames in a 6-2 defeat — a tilt that was rife with turnovers. The loss resulted in a players only meeting after the game.

The Habs have also been struggling as of late, and the Oilers should expect players like struggling Alexei Kovalev to up their games.

The Oilers must come out large on the face-off circle and they need to out hit. I might be wrong, but they only had roughly 10 hits in their loss to Minnesota.

A loss tonight also puts them further away from a playoff race and an inch closer to finding a new coach.

-AR-