WINNIPEG — A special meal with family set Calvin Pickard up for a big night in the Edmonton Oilers’ net.
His quick reflexes and 41 saves helped the Oilers to a 3-1 victory Monday over the host Winnipeg Jets.
Pickard was born in Moncton, N.B., but his family moved to Winnipeg when he was eight years old and his parents still live in the Manitoba capital.
So the 33-year-old stopped in for Sunday dinner.
“Steak, ham, perogies, rice, Caesar salad. It was a Pickard special. It was good,” Pickard said after his fourth win this season (4-5-2).
With the Oilers trading Stuart Skinner to Pittsburgh for Tristan Jarry (currently injured) in December, and Connor Ingram going 2-1 in three straight starts before Pickard got the nod Monday, Pickard was stellar as the Jets put a season-high 42 shots on net.
“They threw a lot of pucks at the net, they had some good tips,” Pickard said. “Their (defence) threw a lot of pucks there, but we did a pretty good job.
“Probably my two best games of the year, I’ve had the most shots out of any of the games. So if we’re giving up shots from the outside that’s fine and take the sticks away, so it was good.”
Max Jones, Jack Roslovic and Zach Hyman with an empty-net goal scored for the Oilers (20-14-6), who improved to 4-2-0 in their last six games.
Connor McDavid’s assist on Hyman’s goal extended his point streak to 13 games with 13 goals and 20 assists.
The Jets went 0-for-3 on the power play. Winnipeg had two power plays in the first period and Pickard turned aside four shots.
“Calvin was outstanding,” Edmonton’s head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “The amount of saves he made, especially early in the game on the penalty kill, and then throughout the game, you know, 40-some shots and some really nice ones.
“And then later in the game the team did a pretty good job blocking some shots for him. But absolutely, Calvin was our best player.”
Pickard’s previous start was a Dec. 20 loss to Minnesota.
“There’s some time between starts here,” Pickard acknowledged. “”You want to get into it, but I felt good.
“I felt good in practice. I’m confident. This is my third year here. I’m confident behind the group and just try to do my job.”
He said some luck was on his side against the Jets.
“It’s hard to get much traction. I thought I played pretty decent in Montreal, pretty decent in Minnesota, just not getting rewarded for it,” Pickard said.
“I got some bounces tonight and I got rewarded for it. I like where my game’s at, just want to keep that going.”
Captain Adam Lowry, in his 800th career NHL game, scored for the Jets (15-18-4) in front of the team’s second consecutive sellout of 15,225 at Canada Life Centre, and fourth of the season.
Connor Hellebuyck made 18 saves for Winnipeg, which fell to 0-4-3 in its last seven games.
“I thought we played really well,” said Lowry, who ended a 17-game scoring drought.
“There are no moral victories, but I think we play that style of hockey, we play that consistent effort for 60 minutes, we are going to get more positive results than we got here tonight.”
Jets head coach Scott Arniel said he couldn’t criticize his team’s effort.
“That’s tough. Again, that’s six periods for me that we’ve been (playing) how we have to play,” he said.
“The only difference is we need points. We need the points. We have to find a way to score more goals than the opposition and we have to get points.”
Jets defenceman Dylan Sandberg tipped his helmet to Pickard.
“When you put up 40 shots in a game, you’re looking to get more than one goal,” he said. “Their goalie played a heck of a game, but I thought we had another great start to the first period there, and that’s kind of the goal that we’re trying to get to.”
Edmonton got on the board eight minutes into the second period when Jets defenceman Logan Stanley turned the puck over behind the net and Jones tapped it in from the side for his first goal of the season.
The Oilers cashed in Winnipeg’s first penalty of the game with Roslovic’s power-play goal at 12:49 for his 11th of the season.
Lowry beat Pickard with a backhand off a rebound to make it 2-1 at 5:46 of the third, but Hyman put in his empty-netter with 1:23 remaining.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 30, 2025.
Judy Owen, The Canadian Press
