The Edmonton Oilers beat t he Vegas Golden Knights 1-0 in overtime on Thursday to advance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs . After losing the first two games of the first round to the Los Angeles Kings, Edmonton is 8-1 in the postseason. The catalyst for the Oilers’ hot streak was replacing goalie Stuart Skinner with Calvin Pickard. But when Pickard suffered an injury during Game 2, they had to turn back to Skinner. After two shutouts to clinch the series, Connor McDavid hopes that Skinner has quieted the critics.
“Hopefully it shuts a lot of people up who were talking about him,” McDavid told the media, per Sportsnet. “We’ve always had belief in him. He comes in and pitches two shutouts. You can’t say enough good things.”
Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse doubled down his his scrum. “Not much better than quieting all the people who talk s*** about you. We don’t win this series if he doesn’t step up and play the way he did. That’s a goaltender who took us to the Stanley Cup Final last year. We have a lot of belief in him.”
The Oilers did make the Stanley Cup Final last year with Skinner, but he created a lot of questions this season. His regular-season save percentage was .896, down from last year’s .905 mark. In the postseason, Skinner had a .901 save percentage and 2.45 goals-against average. In the first two games against the Kings, he allowed 11 goals with a .810 save percentage.
Will the Oilers go with Stuart Skinner or Calvin Pickard?
It would have been easy for Skinner to go off the rails after Game 3 against the Golden Knights. A solid performance was ruined by a buzzer-beater that went off of Leon Draisatil. But he responded with two consecutive shutouts to eliminate the Golden Knights.
Whether the Jets or Stars meet the Oilers in the Western Conference Final, they will have a big goalie decision to make. Do they go with a healthy Pickard, who is 6-0 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs? Or do they keep Skinner in after these two games? It’s a good problem to have for Kris Knoblauch headed into their third West Final in four years.
Skinner was the starter all year for the Oilers, manning the cage for 51 games this season. Pickard has only made eight playoff starts in his career, so trusting him is a risky endeavor. Skinner bested the Stars to reach the Stanley Cup Final last year.
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