EDMONTON - With a protective shield on the toe of his right skate and resolve in his stride, Eric Belanger returned to the ice Thursday, intent on getting back into the Edmonton Oilers lineup.

The veteran centre has missed the last two games with two broken toes — his second and third digits were broken when he took a shot off the foot during a penalty kill in last Saturday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche in Denver. But he expects to be back blocking shots and winning faceoffs on Sunday when the Oilers close out their two-game road trip against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

They play the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday afternoon, a game Belanger will have to miss as he cannot come off the injured reserve list in time for the puck drop.

With so many centres out of commission, the Oilers may put in a call to Oklahoma City for Chris VandeVelde. Shawn Horcoff is out for at least a month with a broken knuckle, Ryan Nugent Hopkins is just back from a game off (shoulder), and Anton Lander took a shot off his foot in Wednesday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars at Rexall Place and was to undergo an MRI on Thursday.

Head coach Ralph Krueger said he wasn’t expecting good news on Lander.

On the flip side, Ben Eager will be available to play on the wing over the weekend and defenceman Mark Fistric said his strained back will no longer keep him out of the lineup.

“I go all in, on all of my hits and, unfortunately, some of them, I miss,” Fistric said. “I’ve had a few bumps and bruises, but nothing major. My back just kind of locked up on me.”

Fistric was hurt trying to plaster Vancouver Canucks forward Jordan Schroeder into the boards. He missed his target and took the brunt of the impact in his lower back.

Belanger, meanwhile, said his foot felt better in his skate than anything else he’s tried on, but was particularly encouraged after the on-ice session.

“I don’t know (if I’ll wear something on my skate) because every time you criss-cross and get deep in your turn, it catches. I did fall a couple of times, so it’s going to be tough to put something there.

“But it seems like everybody is going down at centre. I asked Ralph is he could move me to the wing. He laughed. It’s just one of those things. I mean how much bad luck can you get at one position?

“You weather the storm and get back slowly sooner rather than later.”

The Oilers, who are 4-3-3 with a four-game winless streak in tow, have blocked 169 shots. As of Thursday morning, that was third highest in the league behind the Avalanche (190) and San Jose Sharks (170). They’ve also lost players because of it.

“All the good teams do it well,” Belanger said. “It’s just bad luck because you block shots every game and don’t get hurt, then in these last three, I go down, Horc (Horcoff) goes down and Lander goes down. Hopefully, they (injuries) are out of the way for the rest of the year.

“I just might move the first couple of games. I don’t know if I want to take one off the foot for a couple of weeks.”

jireland@edmontonjournal.com

Twitter.com/jirelandEJ