Who will start in net when the Edmonton Oilers open playoffs?

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At this point, the biggest question for the Edmonton Oilers heading into the NHL playoffs isn’t whom they’ll be starting out against, but whom they’ll be starting in net.

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With the Los Angeles Kings looking to avenge three consecutive early exits at the hands of the Oilers as the two Pacific Division rivals are set to open against each other for a fourth straight year, things aren’t going to get any easier for Connor McDavid & Co. this time around.

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An avalanche of late-season injuries buried any hope of ascending back to second place in the division, where Edmonton finished each of the past three seasons. Instead, the roles have reversed and it will be the Kings holding home-ice advantage over the third-place Oilers.

The good news in the Alberta capital is they will get everyone back, though that might have changed in the case of Mattias Ekholm. The defenceman’s triumphant return from a seven-game absence with an undisclosed injury was tarnished two shifts into Friday’s 4-2 win over the visiting San Jose Sharks, as he made an abrupt exit after playing just 1:25.

Make no mistake, it’s a devastating prospect for a team built around high-octane offence to have a big question mark dropped on its best defensive player at the most crucial time of year.

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And it only makes the question of who will be guarding the net all the more integral.

At this point, it almost assuredly has to be Calvin Pickard, no?

It’s not just the body of work that has seen Pickard go 5-3 in the absence of Stuart Skinner — with one or both of McDavid and league-leading goal scorer Leon Draisaitl out of the lineup as well — but also makes sense for the simple fact that Skinner will have only two chances left in the regular season to shake off the rust before facing a vastly improved Kings squad.

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And that’s a challenging enough prospect on its own, let alone for someone taken out by a head injury from a collision with Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen on March 26.

So never mind that Skinner has been the official Oilers goalie of record for the past two seasons. At this point, you almost assuredly have to go with Pickard in goal to start the playoffs, and the two games Skinner plays are less about him warming up than they are the other guy resting up for what’s to come.

Don’t bother asking for Pickard’s opinion. We did, and his focus right now is on the six inches in front of his face so he can best see what’s going on across the 200 feet of ice in his final regular-season start, with a back-to-back scheduled against the first-place Winnipeg Jets on Sunday, and the Kings on Monday.

“I have no idea, I just go game by game,” Pickard said post-game Friday. “I woke up today with the intentions of trying to play my game against the San Jose Sharks.

“Tomorrow will be a day to get rest and we’ll go attack Winnipeg.”

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His teammates wouldn’t need any convincing to roll into the post-season with their backup. They’d roll out the red carpet, from the sound of things.

“He’s stepped up tremendously. When you have a guy come in and play so many games, he steps up each night,” said Corey Perry, a veteran of 16 previous NHL playoff campaigns. “Every time he’s in the net he gives us a chance to win and he battles.

“It starts off the ice. He’s the hardest worker in the gym and first on the ice. He’s aways working on his game and working different things. Kudos to him.”

But head coach Kris Knoblauch isn’t writing off Skinner just yet.

“Just talk about Picks last year, not playing for two weeks and then coming in and playing very well in the playoffs,” he said. “There’s the technical side of it. Without playing games, you get to hone in on those skills because you’re spending more time practising.

“Playing games is obviously a big part of getting prepared and he’ll have a little test of that. Two games, and then hopefully he can pick up and play very well for us.”

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That said, Knoblauch stopped short of stating his No. 1 goaltender in the regular season will still be No. 1 come playoff time.

“We are going to play the goalie that’s playing the best and giving us the best opportunity to win that night,” he said, citing the an age-old adage of NHL playoffs in which teams go with whoever has the hot hand.

The Oilers better just hope one of them does.

gmoddejonge@postmedia.com

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