The 2025-26 season has not been particularly kind to Edmonton Oilers goaltender Calvin Pickard who has struggled at various points throughout the season. In 12 starts, Pickard has a 4-6-2 record with a 3.73 goals against average and a .833 save percentage so far.
Despite his struggles, his best game of the season came last week against his hometown Winnipeg Jets, where he stopped 41 of 42 shots for a .976 save percentage en route to a 3-1 victory by the Oilers.
On Thursday, the Oilers once again face their Western Canada rival Jets, travelling to Manitoba to play on the road.
Oilers hope to continue their winning ways
When speaking about his decision to give Pickard the start in goal, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said "Calvin played an outstanding game the other night, and hopefully, we don't need as many saves as we needed from him,"
According to Moneypuck.com and looking back at that game, Pickard stood on his head to lead the Oilers to victory. Based on the number of shots Pickard faced and the quality of shots against, the Jets generated 4.246 expected goals, meaning that he saved 3.246 goals above expected.
If he can recreate a performance of similar quality, it would help propel the team even further up the standings, possibly into first place in the Pacific Division if the Vegas Golden Knights are unable to win their game. They are 6-4-0 in their last 10 and have turned their season around from the quarter season mark where they were just outside of the Stanley Cup playoff picture.
3 players to watch
Aside from Pickard, there are a number of Oilers who share interesting storylines heading into Thursday's game.
Connor McDavid
Oilers captain Connor McDavid has been lights out recently, in the midst of a 16 game pointstreak he has scored 17 goals and 22 assists over that span, winning the NHL first star of the week honours twice in that time.
In his last 16 games Connor McDavid has:
— Oil On Whyte (@OilonWhyte) January 7, 2026
17 Goals, 22 Assists, 39 Points.
He has been insanely dominant and is proving he is STILL the best in the world.#LetsGoOilers https://t.co/I2N9FutQUX
Kasperi Kapanen
After spending the majority of the season on the sidelines with an injury, Kasperi Kapanen made his return to the Oilers lineup against the Nashville Predators this week. In his first game back he scored a goal and recorded an assist as the team beat the Predators 6-2. He can extend his point streak to two in this game and either way looks to follow up his return game with another solid performance.
Evan Bouchard
In the two games since he was snubbed from Team Canada's roster for the 2026 men's Olympic squad, Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard has recorded a point in both contests. He has scored one goal and one assist and looks to extend his streak in this game against the Jets and prove Team Canada wrong.