The Edmonton Oilers tied up their series with the Vancouver Canucks in dramatic fashion and the good times kept rolling after the big win.
Fans got to witness Oilers goaltender Calvin Pickard pick up his first-ever NHL playoff victory at the age of 32 as well as defenceman Evan Bouchard scoring an electric game-winner in the last minute of the game.
The pair were made available to the media after the game and the questions eventually focused on just how much Pickard means to the Oilers as a teammate. Bouchard gladly gushed about how much he likes having the journeyman goalie around and it led to the most adorable moment.
“No matter what, he’s a great locker room guy,” Bouchard said. “Everyone wants to be around him, you want to be around him and when he can go in the net and play like that, it’s kind of hard to not want a teammate like Cal on your team.”
The words struck a chord with Pickard who welled up just a tiny bit and fist-bumped his teammate to say thanks.
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) May 15, 2024
That was a common sentiment among all his Oilers teammates after the big win. As Pickard finished his post-game TV interview, the room erupted with cheers as he joined them. When asked after the big win how he felt about Pickard, Oilers superstar Leon Draisaitl had a lot to say.
“Unbelievable, what an awesome guy, what an awesome story,” Draisaitl told reporters. “All year he’s given us a chance to win in and every time he’s in there it seems like he’s standing on his head.
“Super proud of him… Very very happy for him.”
“Super proud of him, not an easy thing to do.”
Draisaitl on Pickard’s performance between the pipes in tonight’s victory over Vancouver. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/5BLlvXHawG
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) May 15, 2024
Mattias Ekholm, whose voice was a bit hoarse from cheering in the final moments of that game, echoed those sentiments about Pickard.
“I’m super happy for him,” Ekholm said. “First of all, off the ice, he’s just a tremendous guy, he just lifts the room up, he’s really funny, but also I love his mindset coming in here.
“He was a huge, huge part of this win.”
“We played too good of a game to not win this one.”
Ekholm assesses tonight’s 3-2 win in Game 4. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/WrPO0zQqRm
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) May 15, 2024
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch also heaped praise onto his goaltender after the game, mentioning how this seemed like another day at the office for Pickard rather than an immensely important playoff game for the team.
“He looked like a guy that had played 100 playoff games,” Knoblauch told reporters. “Continually his starts have been solid no matter how long he’s sat… We have a lot of confidence in him and he came up big tonight.”
Knoblauch wouldn’t commit to whether Pickard will get the Game 5 start in Vancouver on Thursday night but he did say this performance will give them a lot to think about.
Pickard, for now, can rest easy knowing that his first playoff win in the NHL has been secured.