Oilers goaltending woes continue in loss to Blues

The Edmonton Oilers have a goaltending problem, and it’s not to do with Stuart Skinner.

In fact, Skinner has been stellar for the team this year — better than you may think — but more on that later. Front of mind, however, is Calvin Pickard’s performance Monday night against the St. Louis Blues, where he gave up three goals against in Edmonton’s 3-2 blown-lead loss.

The number of goals wasn’t particularly the issue at hand, but it was more so the quality of his play between the pipes. He looked disconnected and at times stuck in quicksand, like when he struggled to get across the crease on Dalibor Dvorsky’s second-period power-play goal. And on Robert Thomas’, the movement was even worse.

Phillip Broberg’s point shot went wide, hitting the boards behind the net and to Robert Thomas. Pickard, meanwhile, had been up in his crease looking to make a save on the point shot, but when the puck went wide, he wasn’t able to get across the crease, instead trying to turn and spin. It allowed Thomas to get lucky as his shot at the wide open net bounced off not only the post, but off Pickard’s pads and in. And on the game-winning goal late in the third, it was a huge rebound allowed that gave Pius Suter the chance to bang in the loose puck.

Monday marked Pickard’s fifth game of the season, and his third loss. His biggest strength, coming up with clutch wins despite not having the best numbers, has turned into his weakness, as his quality start percentage has fell to just 20 percent, well below the league average rate of 53.6 percent.

Looking at Evolving-Hockey’s goals saved above expected statistic, which looks at how many goals a goaltender has saved compared to what’s expected based on the quality of shots they face, Pickard’s -2.4 rate ranks 37th of 43 goaltenders who have played at least five games this season, and the mark is well below the league average 1.48. Skinner, for those wondering at home, ranks a modest 21st among those 43, with a 2.97 GSAx.

Even from a raw counting perspective, Pickard’s numbers have been rough, with an .850 save percentage and a 3.42 goals against average — numbers well below the league average save percentage of .895 and the goals against average rate of 2.90.

Skinner hasn’t been perfect by any means, with a 33.3 percent quality start percentage, a .900 save percentage and a 2.52 goals against average, but he’s been much better between the pipes than given credit for this season.

The Oilers grade out as one of the better defensive teams in the league this year, giving up the third-fewest shots against per hour, and the eighth-fewest high-danger chances against this season at five-on-five, yet sit with the 28th ranked team save percentage.

Both netminders can be better — and need to be better — because nobody around the league is going to do the Oilers a favour. They have another option in the system thanks to the signing of Connor Ingram, but things haven’t been going well in Bakersfield. After allowing just one goal against in the first start of the season, he’s given up five goals against in his most recent three starts.

For the time being, the solution has to come from within.