The Edmonton Oilers tough guy just wants to make a dent in the NHL's heavyweight points derby by scoring a goal - something he hasn't done in 45 games, dating back to March 16, 2004. Even a heavy-handed hammer like Darcy Hordichuk, who'll come calling at Rexall Place with the Nashville Predators tonight, has three goals.

The good news for Laraque is he'll have as good a chance to make the twine bulge against the Predators as he's had in a long time - he's been promoted to a line with Jarret Stoll and Raffi Torres.

"It does bother me. You see my stats and the zero looks bad," Laraque said. "A lot of the other tough guys have at least scored a goal."

Laraque, who has five assists in the 36 games he's played, had lots of jump in Wednesday's 4-2 loss to Minnesota, prompting Craig MacTavish to bump him in pecking order and ice time tonight.

"When his legs are going, he's a factor," MacTavish said. "When he's slow-footed, he gets taken advantage of at times.

"When you're on the fourth line, it's tough to get ice time because of the amount of penalties and situations we've been in. You almost need to get on that third line if you're going to get 10-plus minutes."

Laraque, who went into Wednesday averaging just 5:53 of ice time a night, had his feet moving early and played 11:46 against the Wild.