from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

When the coach puts his lines in the proverbial blender, it always brews up opportunity for those lower line players, guys who would normally have to be playing PlayStation to find themselves on a line with a centreman like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

"There are people looking for more opportunity, so you give it to them and you see how they do," explained Edmonton Oilers coach Dave Tippett.

There was plenty of opportunity to be seized, all right, for guys like Jujhar Khaira, Sam Gagner, Gaetan Haas, etc. Alas, they seized all right, losing 3-1 to the Detroit Red Wings on yet another night when the only point getters in Edmonton’s lineup wore the numbers 29 and 97.

"We’ve got to find some scoring in our lineup, somewhere," said Tippett, whose charges play in Columbus on Wednesday night, having lost four of their past five games.

Here’s the deal on the Oilers support scoring: No one outside of that locker room believes they are an elite group, or that a guy like Alex Chiasson is going to repeat last year’s career, 22-goal season.

But it is fair to look at players like Riley Sheahan, Khaira, Chiasson, or even a Tomas Jurco, who accomplishes so very little, and expect between eight and 10 goals on the season.

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