Caggiula suffered a hand injury early in Sunday's game vs. the Blues and will not be available for tonight's game vs. the Sharks. With Caggiula out, Brandon Hagel was recalled from Rockford (AHL) and will make his NHL debut on the third line.
Murray, who recently returned from a lengthy injury absence, is "nicked up" and will not play on Saturday.With Murray out, Markus Nutivaara will draw back into the lineup.
Smith stopped 27 of 30 shots in the Oilers win in Nashville on Monday. Smith has won two in a row and is on a six-game point streak (4-0-2) while posting a 2.62 GAA and .911 SV%. He gets set to face a Chicago team that is 4-2-0 while scoring 3.67 goals per game in their last six games.
Smith allowed two goals on 41 shots in the Oilers win over the Jets on Saturday. It was a strong finish to February for Smith, who was 6-1-2 with a 2.63 GAA and .916 SV% in the month. Tonight he faces the Predators for the third time this season. He was terrific in the first two meetings, going 2-0-0 while stopping 57 of the 61 shots (.934 SV%) that he faced.
Murray, who has been out since December 14th, was back at practice on Saturday and will play Sunday vs. the Canucks. Murray will skate on the second pair with Markus Nutivaara and should see time on the second power-play unit.
Demers has missed the last 12 games and is questionable to play tonight vs. the Sabres. Head coach Rich Tocchet said that he is likely to play and would replace Aaron Ness, but monitor his status as the Coyotes hit the ice for warmups (7:30 pm ET).
Smith stopped 21 of 23 shots in the Flames win in Los Angeles on Sunday. Smith has been excellent in February, going 5-1-1 with a 2.53 GAA and .920 SV% in his last seven starts. He has not faced the Ducks this season but is 10-6-2 with a 2.63 GAA, .913 SV% and one shutout on the road.
Benson appeared in five straight NHL games but heads back to the AHL with the Oilers adding Andreas Athanasiou and Tyler Ennis on Monday. The 21-year-old is second on Bakersfield with 36 points (9G / 27A) in 43 games this season.
Demers practice partially with the team on Monday but will not play on Tuesday. It will be the 12th straight game that he's missed but could be back as early as Saturday vs. Buffalo.
Smith allowed two goals on 34 shots in the Oilers loss to the Bruins last Wednesday. Mikko Koskinen got the not vs. the Wild on Friday but they’ll come back to Smith for his 32nd start tonight in Los Angeles. He’s 9-6-2 with a 2.67 GAA and .913 SV% at home but has struggled against L.A., giving up eight goals on 44 shots (.818 SV%) in two games.
McDavid missed the last six games with a quad injury but will play tonight in Los Angeles. McDavid is expected to start with Sam Gagner and Alex Chiasson on his wings and returns to the lineup with 17 points (8G / 9A) in his last 12 games.
