The Edmonton Oilers, looking to avoid an 0-3 hole in their first round series against the Los Angeles Kings, will turn to net minder Calvin Pickard on Friday.
Pickard replaces incumbent starter Stuart Skinner who has had a rough go to open the series vs. LA. In two games against the Kings, Skinner has posted a 6.11 GAA, with an .810 SV%, allowing 11 goals on 58 shots faced.
The move doesn’t come as a complete surprise, as Pickard was forced into action at the 10:30 mark of the 3rd period in Game 2 as a replacement for Skinner. Skinner sports a 19-17 record in 37 playoff starts over the past three seasons with a 3.00 GAA, .889 save percentage and one shutout.
Meanwhile, Pickard went 22-10-1 in 2024-25 with a 2.71 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage over 36 regular season games. Per insider Ryan Rishaug, Edmonton is expected to ice the following lineup this evening:
Oilers’ Projected Lines for Game 3
F
Draisaitl – McDavid – Hyman
Podkolzin – Nugent-Hopkins – Arvidsson
Kane – Henrique – Brown
Perry – Janmark – Frederic
D
Nurse – Emberson
Walman – Kulak
Klingberg – Bouchard
G
Pickard
Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl has been complimentary of his team’s backup throughout the season, telling reporters in March “He gives us a chance every time he’s in the net. So, you can’t ask for more than that. We love playing for him, and I think that’s obvious. He’s our heart and soul guy.”
While Edmonton can use a boost between the pipes to claw their way back into the series, head coach Kris Knoblauch shuffled his lines around this week, looking for a spark to slow down the Kings offence who have found the back of the net 12 times through the first two games of the series.
Game 3 shifts back to Edmonton on Friday for a 10pm ET showdown.
Photo: Mack Male. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.