Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch still isn’t sure who he’s going to turn to between the pipes for his club’s must-win Game 6 on Tuesday.
“That’s a conversation with the staff, obviously our goaltending coach Dustin Schwartz, but with all the assistants, general manager (Stan Bowman), to kind of weigh in with how everyone feels and what’s best moving forward,” he said Sunday.
“And it’s not an easy decision. We’ve got two goalies that have shown that they can play extremely well, win hockey games. We feel that no matter who we choose, they can win the game.”
Knoblauch noted that the Oilers need to have a better start regardless of who’s in net. The Florida Panthers have outscored Edmonton 7-0 in the first period over the past three games.
“Absolutely, (it’d help) when the pressure’s not on them that they have to make every single save to keep this close or keep us ahead,” he said. “It’d be nice to get some goal support.”
Stuart Skinner started the first four contests of the Stanley Cup Final, but he was pulled in Games 3 and 4. He was given the hook on Monday early in the third period after allowing five goals on 23 shots, and he was yanked on Thursday after Florida scored three times on 17 shots in the opening frame.
Knoblauch didn’t blame Skinner for either performance, but he gave Calvin Pickard the start in Game 5 after he made 22 saves on 23 shots en route to Edmonton’s wild 5-4 overtime win in the previous contest.
Pickard surrendered four goals on 18 shots Saturday for a .778 save percentage and 4.21 goals against average during his first loss of these playoffs. Knoblauch defended him after the defeat, which put the Oilers down 2-3 in the Stanley Cup Final.
“From what I saw, I think Picks didn’t have much chance on those goals,” he said. “Breakaways, shots through screens, slot shots. There’s nothing saying that it was a poor performance.”
Skinner owned a .904 clip, 2.53 goals against average, and 6-4 record in these playoffs before facing the Panthers, while Pickard registered an .888 clip and 2.84 goals against average while going a perfect 6-0 in that same span.
Here’s how both netminders have fared against the Panthers so far this series:
Advanced statistics courtesy of Evolving-Hockey.
Pickard also owns a better high-danger save percentage at all strengths (.818) versus Florida than Skinner (.759), per Natural Stat Trick. However, Skinner has faced more high-danger shots per 60 minutes (7.61) than Pickard (5.28) in the series.
Edmonton won Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final last spring, with Skinner making 20 saves during the clutch 5-1 victory.
The Oilers will try and keep their season alive Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET in Sunrise.
