FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — If the Edmonton Oilers know which goalie they plan to start in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers, they aren’t revealing it.
Will it be Stuart Skinner or Calvin Pickard getting the call at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX)?
“I’m not going to name (a starter) yet,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said on Friday before the team headed back to Edmonton.
Skinner started Game 4 but was pulled after allowing three goals on 17 shots in the first period. Pickard came in relief, saving 22 of 23 shots for the Oilers, who came back from that 3-0 deficit to defeat the Panthers 5-4 in overtime.
The best-of-7 series is tied 2-2.
Skinner is 7-6 with a 2.99 goals-against average, .891 save percentage and three shutouts in 14 Stanley Cup Playoff starts. Pickard is 7-0 with a 2.69 GAA and .896 save percentage in nine games (six starts). Pickard also came in late in Game 3, a 6-1 win for the Panthers, making seven of eight saves.
Pickard became the fourth different goalie in Oilers history to win seven straight games in the postseason, joining Grant Fuhr (9-0 in 1985; 8-0 in 1988), Bill Ranford (8-0 in 1990) and Dwayne Roloson (7-0 in 2006).
Prior to relief work in Game 3, Pickard hadn’t played since May 8 when he made 28 of 32 saves in a 5-4 overtime win against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 2 of the Western Conference Second Round. But he sustained a lower-body injury in that game and Skinner has taken over since.
