The Edmonton Oilers will have yet another difficult decision to make ahead of Game 5 against the Vancouver Canucks tomorrow night.
After a massive last-minute victory in Game 4 tied the series at 2-2 that saw goalie Calvin Pickard play fantastic, the question of who will get the start in the Oilers’ net for the next game has become that much more difficult to answer.
Should the team ride the hot hand in Pickard or hand the keys back to Stuart Skinner, who struggled in the first three games of the series?
You’re going to want to tune in to the rest of this one. 🥵
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For most fans, the answer might seem obvious in that the team should continue to ride Pickard. After a game where he gave the Oilers every chance to win, why not keep him in the net for the ever-important Game 5?
Well, it could come down to a pre-determined plan that Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch revealed to the media in the aftermath of Sunday night’s 4-3 loss in Game 3. In his post-game availability, Knoblauch said that Skinner would be back between the pipes for the Oilers at some point in this series and mentioned both Game 4 and Game 5 as possibilities.
With Pickard getting the nod in Game 4, that would leave Game 5 as Skinner’s net if Knoblauch sticks to his guns. Yet, despite that, Knoblauch kept things a mystery after last night’s victory.
“We will make that decision, but [Pickard’s] body of work tonight allows us have a lot of confidence in him if we did [go back to him in Game 5],” Knoblauch told reporters last night.
Pickard now has a 1-0 record and a .917 in four periods of playoff hockey. Skinner, on the other hand, has a 1-2 record in this series and a nasty .789 save percentage in three games. The hope in going back to Skinner is that he could potentially rediscover his former self from the first round and the bulk of the regular season. However, that feels like a risky choice with the series now all tied up.
Right now, Pickard looks and feels like the right choice for the Oilers moving forward, but the Stanley Cup Playoffs are known for being one of the most unpredictable times in all of sports, so that could all change after Thursday night.