Calvin Pickard will make his second start of the 2025 National Hockey League playoffs Sunday night for the Edmonton Oilers.
Head coach Kris Knoblauch announced the veteran backup to Stuart Skinner will start again after Pickard backstopped the Oilers to a 7-4 Game 3 victory Friday night over the visiting Los Angeles Kings.
Pickard, 33, stopped 24 shots as Edmonton won their first of the seven-game first-round series. Game 4 at Edmonton’s Rogers Place is slated to start at 7:30 p.m.
“With Calvin, you look at his win-loss record – especially after Jan. 1 – he finds a way to win hockey games, whether we feel better and play better in front of him, or just that he comes up with big saves at key times or whatever it is,” Knoblauch told media after the team’s morning skate on Sunday. “In Game 3, he came up with big saves, especially in the third period.”
Skinner allowed 11 goals on 47 shots in the first two games, both Kings wins, which were played in Los Angeles. He has an .810 save percentage and a 6.11 goals-against average so far in the playoffs.
Pickard replaced Skinner in the third period of the Oilers’ 6-2 loss in Game 2.
