Skinner or Pickard? Oilers' Knoblauch still not naming starting goalie for Stanley Cup Final Game 6
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — It's anyone's guess who starts in goal for the Edmonton Oilers when they face elimination in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.
Coach Kris Knoblauch did not say Monday whether it would be Stuart Skinner or Calvin Pickard.
'It's who we feel can win us a game,' Knoblauch said after practice. "That's how it's gone in other games, and we'll make that decision.'
Skinner was Edmonton's starting goaltender to begin the playoffs, lost the first two games and was replaced by Pickard, who went 6-0 before getting injured. Skinner also started the first four in the final, got pulled twice and for Pickard, who won Game 4 and lost Game 5.
'A strength of our team is that we can go with both guys,' winger Connor Brown said. "They're up for the challenge. I mean, they're both absolute pros. Both have given this their best every time they come in there, and they both work hard, so we're in it as a group.'
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins did not practice Monday, though Knoblauch expects the Oilers' longest-tenured player to be in the lineup Tuesday night in Sunrise.
That is a constant, even if Nugent-Hopkins is not 100% healthy, though there could be other changes coming. Either Jeff Skinner or Vasily Podkolzin may be ticketed for the press box as a healthy scratch up front, while John Klingberg is a candidate to return on defense.
Status quo Panthers
Florida will be making no such changes, barring something unforeseen, in the first chance to clinch back-to-back championships. The same 12 forwards and six defensemen who have been in place since A.J. Greer returned from injury in Game 3 figure to be in the lineup again.
'It's all health based,' coach Paul Maurice said. 'We're a pretty healthy team, fortunately, at this point, and we've got good players."
That includes Matthew Tkachuk, who missed the remainder of the regular season after getting injured at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February. After some ups and downs and uncertainty, he's 'feeling the best' he has during this run.
'I thought there was maybe a 50% chance I wouldn't be playing as close to about a week or five days before the playoffs started,' Tkachuk said. 'Very lucky and fortunate that I've got great trainers and doctors, and they all somehow got me healthy enough to play.'
Florida Olympians
The Panthers have five players already bound for the 2026 Olympics in Milan: Tkachuk for the U.S., Sam Reinhart for Canada, Aleksander Barkov for Finland, Nico Sturm for Germany and Uvis Balinskis for Latvia. The 12 teams participating unveiled their preliminary six-man rosters Monday.
Sturm and Balinskis have not played in the final, but the Olympic announcements put them in the spotlight.
'Being an Olympian is something that not a lot of athletes can say about their careers," Sturm said. 'It's the best athletes in the world from every sport, and it's definitely something that I've marked on my calendar, something that I want to achieve in my career. It'd be a huge accomplish to be able to play there and, once your career's done, to say you participated in the Olympics, I think that's a huge accomplishment not to be understated.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
In the Arena: Serena Williams review – there is just no one in the world that matches up to her (and her sister)
Serena Williams, holder of 39 grand slam titles and four Olympic gold medals, who spent 319 weeks as tennis's world No 1 and became the highest-earning female athlete in history, never thought she was that good when she was a young player. That was because she was always training against her older sister, Venus ('she was the prodigy of prodigies'), the only person in the world who could really challenge her. A year younger, Serena remembers being shorter and weaker and resorting to cheating on line calls at practice so she could occasionally beat her. In the Arena: Serena Williams (the title comes from President Roosevelt's 1910 speech to the Sorbonne – 'It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena' so, yes, consider me told) is an eight-part docuseries that covers Serena's rise and rise over her 27-year tennis career before she retired three years ago. Since then, incidentally, she has been busy with her venture capital firm, production company, body care and pain relief startup, beauty line and raising two children. Honestly, it's like looking in a mirror, is it not? Advertisement In the Arena was executive produced by Serena and is clearly meant to be the definitive version of events. It would be too strong to call it hagiographic, but it is a full-blooded celebration of her achievements. It is not the place to come if you want, for example, an interrogation of the techniques used by the sisters' astonishing father and coach, Richard Williams, to mould two champions. 'My dad was a marketing genius,' says Serena of his marshalling of press attention round his children in the early years, regardless, some might say and have said, of the psychological impact. 'There's a very thin line between parent and coach … But I would say at the end it was all worth it,' is as far as Serena goes here in acknowledging the criticism Richard has faced for his intense focus on their professional success. Then it's on to the good stuff. The sisters turning pro – Venus flying from the start, Serena stumbling slightly before she too took off. The beating of rivals and established stars ('I was determined, determined to take her down … I'm coming for you. I'm coming for everyone') and their swift domination of a game that had hitherto been almost solely the preserve of a white, moneyed elite. 'Little sisters from Compton. Can't really take that too seriously, right?' Inevitably, of course, they begin to meet in grand slam finals. The footage – the grace, the power of them – is astonishing. Almost as astonishing, if in a gradually emerging way, is the grace with which they handle the competition between them, the wins and the losses. Serena talks about benefiting from Venus going first in everything, from turning pro, to handling good and bad press, to playing individuals Serena will later face in tournaments. They talk with sincerity about being pleased for each other's wins even as they mourn and analyse their own losses. And they talk about the bifurcation between life as sisters and life as absolutely dedicated competitors and not letting either one infect the other. They warmed up together before their first joint grand slam final, the 2001 US Open. Venus won. 'I can't say I enjoyed it. I did what I had to do.' 'I wasn't happy,' adds Serena. 'But I was OK. She was the phenom. It was never me.' Her turn would come. She learned to pretend she was playing someone else when it was Venus on the other side of the net. By the time Wimbledon rolled round a year later, she was ready to be No 1. 'I gotta have it,' Serena grins, remembering. 'That's what I need in my life. Because it's just an extension of who I was. As Thanos says: I was inevitable. I couldn't stop the roll.' Advertisement Nor could anyone – including the haters behind the racial and misogynist abuse she dealt with – or anything, including the difficult birth of her first child, in 2017, which nearly killed her. She retired in 2022, and plunged straight into what is already a highly successful and lucrative second act. It would be fascinating to compare and contrast another pair of sisters or – perhaps even more fascinatingly – a pair of brothers who followed the same trajectory. Would they have stayed so close, maintained the same boundaries between love and work, or would they have disappeared under the pressure of competition? Would they have spurred each other on to greater heights in the same way, or destroyed each other? Would they remain such generous supporters of each other, or have combusted by now? What makes the mind not just of a champion – but of a champion who survives the ride intact? Maybe one day we'll find out. But there is as yet nothing to compare to Serena or to Venus separately, let alone together. • In the Arena: Serena Williams airs on BBC One and is on iPlayer now
San Francisco Chronicle
44 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins NASCAR national series debut as crew chief at Pocono
LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — Dale Earnhardt Jr. might already be NASCAR's most popular crew chief. He's certainly an undefeated one. Pressed into unexpected service, Earnhardt called the shots for 18-year-old prospect Connor Zilisch in the No. 88 Chevrolet and they landed in victory lane Saturday in the second-tier Xfinity Series race at Pocono Raceway. 'We had a lot of things going our way,' Earnhardt said. Earnhardt — who won NASCAR's most-popular driver award 15 times — made a pit stop from his day job as team owner at JR Motorsports with normal crew chief Mardy Lindley suspended one race because of a lug nut infraction this month at Nashville. Aside from his duties as team owner, Earnhardt also was at Pocono for his role on the Prime broadcast for the NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday. 'Lot of fun for me today,' Earnhardt said. 'I missed the thrill of competition. I love broadcast, don't get me wrong. But nothing compares to driving or just being part of the team. Being an owner doesn't really deliver like this. This is a lot of fun.' Earnhardt had his wife and two young daughters in tow with him as he made the celebratory walk to victory lane. Oldest daughter Isla Rose clutched the checkered flag while youngest Nicole Lorraine soaked in the scene from her dad's arms. The win continued a banner season for the NASCAR Hall of Fame driver — who swept two races at Pocono as a driver in 2014 — after JR Motorsports and reigning Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier qualified for the season-opening Daytona 500 and secured their Cup Series debut. Earnhardt won two Daytona 500s, in 2004 and 2014, and 26 races overall. His side hustle Saturday was made a bit easier with Zilisch behind the wheel. Zilisch, who turns 19 in July, raced to his second Xfinity victory of the season and third of his young career. He won his Xfinity debut last year at Watkins Glen International. Earnhardt even pitched in during the race and tossed tires over the wall during pit stops. 'Dale Junior, not too bad on the box,' Zilisch said. 'Pretty cool to have him up there. Getting him a 1-for-1 win as crew chief is pretty awesome.' ___
Fox Sports
an hour ago
- Fox Sports
Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins NASCAR national series debut as crew chief at Pocono
Associated Press LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — Dale Earnhardt Jr. might already be NASCAR's most popular crew chief. He's certainly an undefeated one. Pressed into unexpected service, Earnhardt called the shots for 18-year-old prospect Connor Zilisch in the No. 88 Chevrolet and they landed in victory lane Saturday in the second-tier Xfinity Series race at Pocono Raceway. 'We had a lot of things going our way,' Earnhardt said. Earnhardt — who won NASCAR's most-popular driver award 15 times — made a pit stop from his day job as team owner at JR Motorsports with normal crew chief Mardy Lindley suspended one race because of a lug nut infraction this month at Nashville. Aside from his duties as team owner, Earnhardt also was at Pocono for his role on the Prime broadcast for the NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday. 'Lot of fun for me today,' Earnhardt said. 'I missed the thrill of competition. I love broadcast, don't get me wrong. But nothing compares to driving or just being part of the team. Being an owner doesn't really deliver like this. This is a lot of fun.' Earnhardt had his wife and two young daughters in tow with him as he made the celebratory walk to victory lane. Oldest daughter Isla Rose clutched the checkered flag while youngest Nicole Lorraine soaked in the scene from her dad's arms. The win continued a banner season for the NASCAR Hall of Fame driver — who swept two races at Pocono as a driver in 2014 — after JR Motorsports and reigning Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier qualified for the season-opening Daytona 500 and secured their Cup Series debut. Earnhardt won two Daytona 500s, in 2004 and 2014, and 26 races overall. His side hustle Saturday was made a bit easier with Zilisch behind the wheel. Zilisch, who turns 19 in July, raced to his second Xfinity victory of the season and third of his young career. He won his Xfinity debut last year at Watkins Glen International. Earnhardt even pitched in during the race and tossed tires over the wall during pit stops. Zilisch took the win down to the wire and finally passed Jesse Love with five laps left in the race. Love finished second. 'Dale Junior, not too bad on the box,' Zilisch said. 'Pretty cool to have him up there. Getting him a 1-for-1 win as crew chief is pretty awesome.' ___ AP auto racing: recommended
