PROJECTED LINEUP: Pickard set for his first start of the season against the Canucks

EDMONTON, AB – Goaltender Calvin Pickard will be between the pipes to make his first start of the season on Saturday night when the Edmonton Oilers play host to Evander Kane & the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Place on Hockey Night in Canada.

"I think it's the most comfortable I've been in terms of a first start I've had in the last number of years," Pickard said. "Playing in the preseason, it helped that I got four starts, which was nice. This is my third year here, so I know what to expect. That being said, there's always a lot of excitement going into the first game of the year, and you definitely want to do well."

Pickard will receive his first start after impressing over a busy pre-season, where the 33-year-old made four appearances for the Oilers and assembled a 1-1-1 record against the Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets and Vancouver Canucks by stopping 66 of 73 shots for a 1.99 GAA and a .904 save percentage.

"I feel way better going into the season than I did last year," Pickard said. "Obviously, I missed most of camp last year. This year, I played a ton in preseason, which was nice, and I saw a lot of different situations. I'm a week removed from my last game against Vancouver, so I'm excited for the opportunity to play tonight. I'm excited to get out there, and it's time to play for real."

Pickard mentioned that he's feeling a lot more comfortable in every facet of his game coming into this year from the continuity he's had in Edmonton as the backup to Stuart Skinner for the last two seasons, plus the added benefit of working with a fresh voice in Goaltending Coach Peter Aubry this season.

"Yeah, I'm confident for sure," he said. "Pete's come in and tweaked a couple of things, and it was definitely time for that. Just being in better positions for more and more situations, not kind of selling the farm on shots all the time. So he's dialling me down really well and I'm seeing the benefit from it in preseason and practice. I'm looking forward to playing like that tonight."

Pickard set new career highs last season with 22 regular-season victories and a further 10 playoff appearances, winning six straight games in Rounds 1 & 2 before being injured against the Vegas Golden Knights and ultimately returning in the Stanley Cup Final to make two starts against the Florida Panthers.

"You always have to be playing well, no matter where you are and no matter who you are," he said. "I want to get off to a good start tonight. I don't want to put too much pressure on myself. I've been saying it for years here, but I'm confident. I'm comfortable in this locker room. I've played a lot of games here the last couple of years, and tonight's no different. It's a good opportunity for me."

Head Coach Kris Knoblauch mentioned this is a scheduled start for Pickard after his last pre-season appearance was on the previous Friday in Vancouver, when he stopped 24 of 27 shots in a 3-2 exhibition defeat against the Canucks, so there was a plan to give him this start to keep him fresh and ready.

Pickard is 34-17-2 in 59 career starts for the Oilers over the past two seasons, posting a 2.63 GAA and .903 SV%, so there's plenty of confidence in him from his teammates and coaches whenever he's in the blue paint, which isn't expected to change.

"I believe he was in four (pre-season) games, and I think three of them he was spectacular and maybe one not at his best, but three out of four he was really sharp," Knoblauch said. "If you look at Calvin's win-loss record the last two years, it's pretty impressive, so he's won us a lot of games."

Knoblauch will roll the same lines from their 4-3 shootout defeat to the Calgary Flames on Wednesday, with the roster expected to go through changes in the coming weeks after the addition of Jack Roslovic and Jake Walman, Zach Hyman and Mattias Janmark all expected to come off Injured Reserve.

Defenceman Darnell Nurse is good to play after missing yesterday's practice because of an illness, Knoblauch confirmed.

"I thought there were things that we could have been better at," he said. "We felt it was a game that we were better five-on-five. Obviously, we have a player coming in eventually in Roslovic, and then Janmark in about a week and Hyman after that. So we're going to have enough changes, and we don't want to be changing lines every day. So overall, I thought it was good. There's room for improvement, but I don't think there was any need to change the lines up."

View the Oilers Projected Lineup vs. Vancouver below:

Draisaitl - McDavid - Frederic
Mangiapane - Nugent-Hopkins - Savoie
Podkolzin - Philp - Kapanen
Howard - Henrique - Tomasek

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Regula
Kulak - Emberson

Pickard
Skinner