Stuart Skinner will start for Edmonton Oilers in elimination game against Florida Panthers
Even though Calvin Pickard has been a warm and fuzzy playoff story with his seven wins, winning six straight at one point until Tomas Hertl fell on his leg in the Vegas second-round series, he is still the backup. Skinner got the Oilers to Game 7 last June, losing 2-1 to Sergei Bobrovsky.
He got the hook in Game 4 here, but only because the Oilers were awful in the first 20 minutes, and Knoblauch wanted to wake up his team, so he tapped Pickard on the shoulder, and he was outstanding for 51 minutes in the Oilers' rally and OT win.
But Pickard lost Game 5 at Rogers Place in one of the Oilers' worst playoff games of this Cup run, when they once again fell behind early to the Panthers and chased the game and lost 5-2. Pickard was beaten four times on 18 shots. So, again, they were always returning to Skinner in the elimination game because he's their guy.
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