After having a rough go so far this postseason it looks like the Edmonton Oilers are going to move away from their regular season starter and is going to be going with Calvin Pickard. This news comes from Frank Seravalli from Daily Faceoff.
Sources: #Oilers plan to start Cal Pickard against #Canucks in Game 4 on Tuesday night.#LetsGoOilers look to even up the series with Pickard backstopping them in what would be his first career Stanley Cup playoff start.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) May 14, 2024
Story: https://t.co/3ZfWDu4I6U pic.twitter.com/7vAQSZSTRw
Although Skinner has a rough some rough games throughout this playoffs, I am not to sure if putting in Calvin Pickard is the best bet for the OIlers, That being said the Oilers do not have the time for Skinner to find his game and the Pickard was good coming into last game taking over Skinner in releif as he was pulled due to letting in 4 goals on only 15 shots.
Skinner has not been a very good playoffs for Stuart Skinner. In his 8 games played he 3.22 goals against average and a save percentage of 0.877%. Those are not numbers of a goalie that is going to win you the cup. Pickard although in an extremely small sample size has yet to let in any goals in his 3 shots he faced on Sunday.
One thing that putting in the backup goalie may do is cause the Oilers to play a lot more tight defensively. The fact that Pickard is in net will be in their minds and will try and get him the win, a big part of an win for the OIlers will be tightening up their defensive game.
The Oilers need to win this game so they do not go down 3-1 in this series as they will head back to Vancouver for game 5. Tonight, although technically not, is a must win game for the OIlers. It is hard to win 3 games in a row let alone 3 games against a team playing as good as the Canucks,
I don’t know what other type of changed Knoblauch will make heading into this game. The main issue for the OIlers last game was their discipline and penalty kill. If the Oilers want to have success tonight they need to stay out of the penalty box and if they do head to the box they need to kill it off.
With the game still a long ways away the Oilers will need to come out flying if they want to take this win home. Even thought the Canucks will be shorthanded due to suspensions, the Oilers will need to play a whole 60 mins if they want to be even heading back to Vancouver.