The Canucks and Oilers are taking different approaches to their lineups ahead of Thursday鈥檚 pivotal Game 5.

The Oilers are opting to stick with Calvin Pickard as their starting goalie after the journeyman netminder stopped 19 shots in Edmonton鈥檚 3-2 victory on Tuesday.

鈥淚 thought he looked really comfortable the other day,鈥� Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said after Thursday鈥檚 morning skate. 鈥淗e just made some solid saves, played the puck really well. 鈥� He made all the right decisions and made some big saves for us throughout the night.鈥�

Pickard also played the third period of the Oilers鈥� 4-3 loss in Game 3, replacing Stuart Skinner, who allowed four goals on 15 shots.

Skinner has a 2-1-0 record with a .793 save percentage and a 4.00 goals-against average in the series against Vancouver.

The Canucks, meanwhile, will juggle their lineup after head coach Rick Tocchet expressed disappointment in several of his players.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been a resilient group all year,鈥� Tocchet said after Game 4. 鈥淏ut we need five or six guys to get going here. I mean, it鈥檚 the Stanley Cup playoffs. Some guys, I don鈥檛 know if they thought it was the playoffs. We can鈥檛 play with 12 guys. We鈥檝e got to figure it out quick.鈥�

Forwards Ilya Mikheyev, Sam Lafferty and Linus Karlsson all appear poised to come out of the lineup Thursday while Phillip Di Giusseppe and Nils Hoglander will return, and Vasily Podkolzin will make his NHL playoff debut.

Hoglander is expected to play on a line with Elias Lindholm and Elias Pettersson, while Di Giusseppe and Podkolzin will skate alongside centre Nils Aman.

Tocchet said after Vancouver鈥檚 morning skate that he wants better puck possession and forechecking from his players.

鈥淭here are plays there to be made,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not making them. And I think we鈥檝e got to be a little more aggressive when we鈥檙e making those plays.鈥�

The best-of-seven series is tied at 2-2 with Game 6 set for Saturday in Edmonton.

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