EDMONTON -- In the words of a famous cartoon monkey, "it is time."
I think Rafiki from The Lion King was on to something. The Edmonton Oilers broke a five-game losing streak with a hard-fought 3-1 victory.
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One positive from the game was the performance of Calvin Pickard. He's been the Oilers back-up ever since he was called up to replace Jack Campbell in the early going of last season.
It's time for that to change.
Pickard stopped 35 of 36 shots on Saturday night to earn the first star honor. It was yet another game this year where he kept the Oilers in the mix and it's time that he gets rewarded for that by taking over the majority of starts until the end of the year.
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Over his last eight starts Pickard has a 6-2-0 record. Of those eight games he has five quality starts (QS). As a refresher, a quality start is when a goalie has a game with a save percentage higher than league average.
Pickard's save percentage for his last eight games are: .864, .912, .923, .929, .906, .895, .818, and .972. Stuart Skinner on the other hand, has struggled.
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Following a 35-save performance, Calvin Pickard talks with @GenePrincipe about how big of a win it was for the Oilers, his performance, and more. 🎙️
He has a record of 2-4-1 in his last eight games. Skinner has only three QS and two Really Bad Starts (RBS). His save percentage over his last eight games are: .951, .941, .857, .909, .750, .839, .889, and .889.
Like I said previously, it is time.
The Oilers know that Skinner is their guy for the long haul. However, in the interest of putting their best foot forward to grab that top Pacific Division spot, they need to lean on their goalie who gives them the best shot at winning.
Right now, that's Pickard.
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