Skinner or Pickard? Knoblauch gives update on Oilers goalie decision
Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch is facing the biggest decision of his coaching career.
The Oilers are one game away from elimination, and the rookie NHL head coach must choose a starting goaltender from two options.
Stuart Skinner entered the playoffs as the team’s started but relinquished the net to Calvin Pickard halfway through this series. Pickard has split his two starts, including a 3-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks last night.
“After each game, we’ve always wanted to sit on it and not make any rash decisions,” Knoblauch said today. “Picks has been great in the two games he’s played in [and] gave us an opportunity to win both those games. Our staff slept on it and will get together today and we’ll make that decision and decide who is going to play tomorrow.”
Pickard has strong stats through the two games he’s started. He has allowed just five goals, but his current workload is the most he’s gotten in a long time. A career backup, Pickard has never had to start three pressure games in a row, and there’s no telling how that’ll affect him.
“That was probably his first time he’s started back-to-back games in probably eight years,” continued Knoblauch. “Probably hadn’t started back-to-back since he was with Colorado. He handled it very well, extremely well; I thought he made some big saves and gave us a chance to win.”
Even considering that, the head coach doesn’t think that rules out Pickard for Game 6.
“It’s not like it’s back-to-back days; there is rest in between, so there is the possibility of being able to handle it. We’ll just evaluate it and see what’s our best decision on who starts tomorrow.”
The other option is Skinner, who has carried the team through long stretches. With the Oilers’ season on the line, Knoblauch and the coaching staff may want to turn back to the regular starter.
While he didn’t have a great start to this series, the Oilers have tightened up defensively over the past few games. Skinner won 36 regular season games and had a solid 2.62 goals-against-average.
Goaltending has been the fatal flaw for this Oilers team too many times in recent history. There is no easy answer for Knoblauch ahead of Game 6.
The coach’s decision will be obvious at tomorrow’s morning skate. The puck drops for the critical elimination game at 6 pm MT.