The Edmonton Oilers are taking a bit of a risk if the lines at practice on Friday are any indication of what's to be expected in Saturday's afternoon game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Both Ike Howard and Quinn Hutson were recalled from the AHL an on the ice. Both were on the third line, with fellow rookie Matt Savoie. 

Three rookies on the third line? It's a gamble, with some serious potential for offense. 

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Quinn Hutson recorded three straight multi-point outings in the AHL before making his way back to the big club.

Goals in four straight (6G, 2A — 8 PTS).

Took reps with Howard & Savoie at Friday’s practice. #Oilerspic.twitter.com/A7HuTuGnQQ

— Tony Brar 🚀 (@TonyBrarOTV) January 2, 2026

Edmonton has struggled to find any offense from their third line of late. They wanted to create a spark so badly, they took Jack Roslovic off a successful second line and put him at center on the third line. It didn't work and Roslovic was almost immediately put back in the top six, with head coach Kris Knoblauch saying, "We made that switch putting Roslovic there. Obviously, we feel that Roslovic is a better player, but I thought Andrew [Mangiapane] did some things that helped us."

Perhaps Mangiapane did some things, but it wasn't enough. He's now an asterisk on the second line, and might be a healthy scratch. Vasily Podkolzin was under the weather and not on the ice Friday. 

Back to the third line...

Having three rookies on the ice is asking a lot of that trio. It's clear that Huston and Howard can light it up at the AHL level. Howard scored 10 goals and 13 assists for 23 points in 16 games with the Condors. Hutson has tallied 19 goals and 13 assists for 32 points in 26 games this season. Asking them to translate that over in the NHL won't be easy. And, while Savoie is a responsible two-way player, he's still fresh in the NHL, with only 46 total NHL games on his resume. 

The problems might come defensively. As sound as Savoie is, Hutson and Howard are question marks. Can the Oilers deploy that line in advantageous situations? On home ice, that's a bit easier to do. However, not always. These three will need to stay above water if they're going to see any minutes at all. The Flyers and any future opponents will try to isolate that line if they can get their top stars on the ice. 

As we get comments from Knoblauch, we'll be sure to update the story here. 

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While the Detroit Red Wings picked up a valuable point in the standings during their 4-3 overtime setback against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday evening, they'll lament the fact that they only converted on two of eight power-play opportunities. 

Both James van Riemsdyk and Alex DeBrincat tallied with the man-advantage, the former coming during a four-minute double-minor opportunity, with the latter coming late in the third period to knot the score at 3-3. 

However, six other chances went for naught despite coming into the contest with the NHL's fourth-ranked power-play efficiency rate. 

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Head coach Todd McLellan did point to the positive of the statistical reality that they finished with a 25 percent conversion rate during the contest.

“At the end of the night, it was 25 percent, which isn’t too bad," McLellan said of Detroit's power-play. "It got us two goals and probably got us a point. Anytime you start a game on the power-play 20 seconds in, that’s a tough thing.”

Despite staying in the first place position in the Atlantic Division standings by picking up a point, the Red Wings feel that they could have played better as a whole 

"It’s a huge point to get," said DeBrincat, who picked up his 21st goal of the campaign. "Still a little disappointed in how we played, but some nights, good teams win those games. We feel like we should’ve won that game, but we can go win on Saturday and make it back." 

The Red Wings will once again face the Penguins on Saturday afternoon at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. 

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