Edmonton Oilers Make Interesting Decision with Starting Goalie Stuart Skinner
The Edmonton Oilers are visiting their rival Calgary Flames today for the first half of back to back games, and have named Stuart Skinner as tonight's starter.
It's extremely interesting to go with Skinner tonight, because it may be a sign that Coach Knoblauch has more trust in Calvin Pickard at the moment.
Pickard will now start tomorrow night's home game against a much better team in the New Jersey Devils. Tonight's game against the Flames is important as a rivalry matchup and divisional game, but the Flames are a rebuilding team and they're on the road.
When Coach Knoblauch turned to start Calvin Pickard against the Nashville Predators, some fans thought the team may be sending a personal message to Stuart Skinner that his play hasn't been up to standard. He's had some quality starts this year, but they've been between games where he's too inconsistent and allowing weak goals against.
Skinner's save percentage is .872 after 7 games, while Calvin Pickard is at a .897 in 5 games. Pickard's stats on the year aren't great because of one tough start, but he performed incredibly well against Nashville and the Oilers seem to be riding with the hot goalie. Even last season, Pickard had a higher save percentage than Skinner. If Pickard keeps up this level of play, the Oilers could move away from Skinner as their starter, and perhaps more towards a tandem.
We'll see how Pickard and Skinner fare in their next appearances, but it's clear that the Oilers need more out of their netminder right now - especially with Connor McDavid unavailable. Edmonton seems to have a reliable veteran goalie in Calvin Pickard, and he could earn himself a larger opportunity in the Oilers' plans.
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