May talks fighting -- sort of
Brad May, who will be on the fourth line tonight with Darren Helm and Patrick Eaves, was asked about the growing number of players who love to lay big hits on guys, but steadfastly refuse to drop the gloves when challenged.
"We know those guys," he said. "We don't have to talk about that. They are still good teammates to their teams. I dislike playing against them, no question. But to talk about them and name names, nah. They are quality guys. That's why they have a job in this league."
May will probably have to drop the gloves at some point tonight. Either Zach Stortini or Steve McIntyre will challenge him at some point. May's last two fights haven't gone that well for him. In both, he wound up going at it at the end of his shift. He didn't have many bullets in his chamber.
"I don't like talking about fighting," May said. "My dad and my brother said. 'The minute you start talking about fighting you are going to get killed the next time.' So I don't want to say anything. You will always meet your maker. It hasn't happened yet, but I've got to keep my mouth shut and just do my job."
Mike Babcock is going to keep Valtteri Filppula centering the second line with Danny Cleary and Todd Bertuzzi. He's keeping Pavel Datysuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holmstrom together, as well, with Kris Draper centering the third line between Leino and Jason Williams. But look for Datsyuk (his foot is fine) to double-shift on that third line. Said Babcock: "I thought Drapes was good with that line and when we put Pavel with them they scored a goal, so it gives us a different way to look at things."
The Oilers will be without Mike Comrie and Lubomir Visnovsky, both out with the flu. Coach Pat Quinn, with his team scoreless for the last 141 minutes, shook up his lines. He put a slumping Shawn Horcoff (one goal, two points) back on the first line with Dustin Penner and Ales Hemsky.
The Oilers were shut out in their two previous games and hadn't had a five-on-five goal in 10 periods.
