Los Angeles Kings's Kyle Clifford #13 vies against New York...

Los Angeles Kings's Kyle Clifford #13 vies against New York Rangers's Wojtek Wolski #86 during their ice hockey NHL season opener game at the Globe Arena. (Oct. 7, 2011) Credit: Getty Images

EDMONTON -- Wojtek Wolski is out of the water and healthy, but not out of the doghouse. Entering Saturday night's game against the Oilers, Wolski had missed four of the first five games this season with a groin issue, and coach John Tortorella had said, "We can't get him out of the tub." Tortorella said the left wing now is healthy, but he remained a scratch.

Wolski, who has a $3.8-million cap hit and was acquired from Phoenix last season for Michal Rozsival, has been streaky. He started the season on the No. 1 line with Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik, but Saturday night he couldn't unseat any of the fourth-liners -- Mike Rupp, Erik Christensen or Kris Newbury -- on this trip.

"Newbs comes in, he finishes checks, he fights for his teammates. Eventually, I think he can help us in faceoffs as I feel more comfortable with him," Tortorella said. "Rupper scores a goal and fights a guy, so I don't think I need to change that . . . [Wolski] is a guy who scored 60 points in this league, and eventually we've got to try to get that out of him. But right now, as we win a couple games, that situation isn't going to change."

Potter working out well

Former Rangers coach Tom Renney, now guiding the Oilers, said his club's "seven-man group of defensemen are NHL-ready and capable." One is Corey Potter, who played for the Hartford Wolf Pack beginning in 2006 and appeared in eight games with the Rangers.

Potter, 27, who was signed by the Oilers as a free agent in July, has two assists in four games. "My game hasn't changed much, but [Renney has] put me in different situations now, the power play and a little more penalty kill,'' he said. "It's just good mentally to get the experience here, to get confidence."

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