Oilers Tap Calvin Pickard For Another Big Start

Cal Pickard might be moving up in the world.

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Pickard is scheduled to make his third start in the Oilers' last five games tonight as the Oilers play the second leg of a back-to-back against the New Jersey Devils.

This doesn't come as a surprise, as Stuart Skinner got the start in yesterday's win over the Calgary Flames. It's simply a role reversal from the Oilers' last back-to-back a week ago, when Pickard started in Detroit while Skinner took the second leg in Columbus.

Still, it's no secret that Pickard has outplayed his battery mate so far this season. While Skinner has had trouble finding consistency on his way to an .881 save percentage, Pickard has now strung together three consecutive wins with save percentages over .920.

Pickard bounced back from a brutal first two games with a 25-save win over Nashville on October 17th, then backstopped the Oilers to an overtime win over his old team in Detroit. He returned to the starter's net in Nashville after Skinner allowed six the game before in Columbus, and shut down the Predators once again for his third straight win.

Pickard will now make his first home start since allowing 5 goals on 20 shots to Chicago in the second game of the season.

Their opponents, meanwhile, are also turning to their backup goaltender. They were faced with the unenviable choice between starter Jacob Markstrom, who owns a save percentage of .885 against Edmonton since 2020-21, and his understudy Jake Allen, who's coming off two consecutive blowup starts that have tanked his season SV% to just .876.

The 34-year-old Allen will make his first start since being pulled after allowing 4 goals on 30 shots to the New York Islanders.

Not only is this a battle of the backups, but it's also an extra-rare Battle Of New Brunswick. As far as I can tell, the Moncton-born Pickard and Fredericton native Allen are the only New Brunswick-born goalies ever to face each other in the NHL. Allen owns a 5-0-1 record against Pickard, all from when Allen was in St. Louis and Pickard with Colorado.

Tonight's game gets underway at 6:30, streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.

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