EDMONTON - There is a frenetic pace that has appeared in Nail Yakupov’s game that really isn’t required, which is one of the reasons the Edmonton Oilers rookie will slide onto a line with Eric Belanger and Ryan Smyth against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night at Rexall Place.

The other reason is the Oilers are still desperately seeking five-on-five offence. In short, it is broke, so head coach Ralph Krueger is still trying to fix it.

Teemu Hartikainen will move up to play with Sam Gagner and Ales Hemsky, while Smyth, a healthy scratch on Tuesday, is not only returning to the lineup, but is also going to get some power-play time. He’ll park himself in front of Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov and look for rebounds and deflections, as he has so many times in the past.

The thinking with Yakupov is that he could inject some offensive sizzle into the performances of Smyth, who has one goal in 12 games, and Belanger, who is still pointless. Conversely, the rookie could benefit from the experience the two veterans bring to the game.

Yakupov ripped off five goals in his first eight NHL games, has now gone five games without scoring.

“He just needs to relax a little more,” said Krueger. “It’s as if he’s trying too hard sometimes and nothing has been coming.”

Krueger figures Smyth can chip in 10 goals for the Oilers this season and Belanger, too, has contributed points in the past, so they will have Yakupov to work with, at least for now.

As for the power play, it has gone stone cold. After scoring 10 goals in the first five games of the lockout-shortened season, Edmonton has had just four goals with the man advantage in the last eight games. And there have been chances — 35 of them since Jan. 30.

Consequently, the power-play units will also be reworked.

“We need more depth in our scoring. We need to figure out a lineup that gives us more options,” said Krueger. “Then on the power play, when the guys come together, maybe they’ll be fresher.”

Five-on-five, the Oilers have just 11 goals. Two of those were scored when the goalie had been pulled from the Edmonton net.

The Oilers have outshot their opponents only four times, including Tuesday’s game when they directed 36 shots at the Dallas Stars stingy Kari Lehtonen but left with a 4-1 loss.

“Hopefully, we can get some offence going,” said Belanger. “Hopefully, Smytty and I, as older guys, can calm (Yakupov) down a little bit and get him going. We’re going to try and help him as much as we can.

“I think he needs to learn to play more up and down the wing. We were talking about that today, but it’s still a learning process for him.

“(As a team) we have to stay out of the penalty box. We created a lot of chances with our five-on-five play in the last game. It’s going to start going in at one point; we have the weapons here. It’s just a matter of sticking the system.

“If we keep doing the things we’ve been doing, we’ll be fine.”

jireland@edmontonjournal.com

@jirelandEJ