EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Calvin Pickard, the lone goaltender with a 4-0 record, is among the surprises emerging from the first round of NHL playoffs and Edmonton Oilers fans are likely grateful for it.
The 33-year-old Pickard stepped in for Stuart Skinner when the Oilers were down 2-0 in their series with the Los Angeles Kings. Edmonton won four straight to close out the series Thursday night at home.
“It means a lot,” Pickard said. “Coming in Game 3, you don’t want to chase results. You just want to go out and do your job.”
Next up is a second-round series against Vegas, which is coming off a six-game win over Minnesota. Edmonton and Vegas split their four regular-season meetings. They last met in the postseason in 2023 when the Knights eliminated the Oilers in six games in the second round on the way to winning the Stanley Cup.
“For the series against Vegas, there’s a team that plays quite a bit different style than L.A. with their systems and the type of personnel that they have,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “It’s going to give us a whole new challenge.”
The Oilers’ special teams, so crucial in last year’s run to the Stanley Cup Final, picked up against the Kings. Edmonton held the Kings to two goals on nine power-play chances and went 6-for-9 in the four victories. Getting some skaters back in the regular mix following injuries was key.
“There were a lot of guys that came in that weren’t in the picture going into the playoffs,” Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “You could see some of the chemistry with the lines and guys playing together. That came as the series went on.”
The return of Evander Kane and defenseman John Klingberg in Game 2 was pivotal. Kane had two goals and an assist in the series, but also gives Knoblauch more freedom to deploy Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on a line together.
“It certainly helps our team the way Evander is playing, and it gives us a lot more options,” Knoblauch said.
McDavid and Draisaitl still had their fingerprints all over the series as the captain contributed two goals and nine assists, and Draisaitl’s three goals and seven assists included an overtime winner in Game 4.
“You need everybody feeling good about themselves, and everybody should,” McDavid said. “We had different guys step up at different times throughout the series, and everybody should feel good and proud of that, and ready to carry that into another tough opponent.”
Pickard will be ready to start if that’s the decision.
“My evaluation is we’ve got two really good goalies that we have confidence in,” said Knoblauch. “Either one of them can go in the nets and we’ll see how they’re playing. We’ve got a lot of confidence in Picks right now because of what he has done. He’s won four games in a row, but if we need to change, we’ve got a great second option.”
Pickard’s career was on a downward trajectory after playing 50 games for the Colorado Avalanche in 2016-17. He started just 19 games over the next six seasons for Toronto, Philadelphia, Arizona and Detroit, but spent the majority of those years in the minors.
When he signed with the Oilers in 2022, he spent that season with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors.
“I never stopped believing in myself,” Pickard said. “If you’re not believing in yourself, you’re not going to be successful. I played some good hockey in those years since I played 50 games in Colorado. I was always building that game and that confidence to get back to this level.”
Pickard went 1-1 in the first playoff starts of his career. He replaced Skinner for a pair of games in last year’s second-round series against the Vancouver Canucks.
“I was never doubtful to throw him in because we kind of ripped the Band-Aid off last year,” Knoblauch said. “Put him in a very stressful, almost a must-win game against Vancouver and he responded tremendously and gave us a lot of confidence. This year, it was a lot easier to give him the net.”
Pickard’s 31 starts this season were the most since his last season with Colorado. His record was 22-10-1 with a .900 save percentage and a goals-against average of 2.71. He started eight of Edmonton’s final 11 games of the regular season after Skinner was injured March 26.
“It was good to get into a rhythm towards the end of the season there with Skins’s injury. I was playing really good hockey. It was probably my best hockey of the year heading into playoffs,” he said. “I was ready if called upon and I was called upon pretty early. I just want to keep it going.”
