POST-GAME: Campbell comes up huge in relief appearance

LOS ANGELES, CA - Jay Woodcroft knew his team needed a spark.
Trailing the Los Angeles Kings 3-0 through 20 minutes on Sunday and facing a potential 3-1 series deficit if they were to ultimately lose the game, the head coach and his staff decided to replace starting netminder Stuart Skinner with Jack Campbell to begin the middle frame.
The 31-year-old veteran went on to turn aside 27 of the 28 shots he faced as the Oilers scored three goals in the second period to tie the game, got another equalizing tally from Evander Kane late in the third, and evened the series at 2-2 in overtime thanks to the heroics of Zach Hyman.
"I've constantly touted that we have a good goaltending tandem," Woodcroft said. "I have belief in both of our goaltenders, and that's not assigning any blame on Stuart for the way the first period went, but I felt that our team needed a little bit of a change in momentum to give us a different kind of look."
Campbell's crowing moment in the resplendent relief performance came with 5:48 remaining in the third period and the Oilers still trailing 4-3 after Matt Roy got the only puck past the Edmonton netminder 4:28 into the final frame.
The Kings were pushing hard for an insurance marker and a steal by Phillip Danault in the neutral zone led to a partial breakaway for Viktor Arvidsson. The winger faked a wrist shot, deked to his backhand and then quickly moved back to his forehand, but Campbell stayed with him the whole way and stretched out his left pad to deny the attempt.

"He made a good move, I thought he was going to take 'er backhand, but he cut back and I just tried to battle and stay with it, and fortunately it stayed out," Campbell said of the pivotal stop.
Skinner had played the entire series prior to the first intermission switch, with Campbell not seeing action since he made 27 saves in a 3-1 road win over the Anaheim Ducks on April 5.
"It's a different path, but you get there in the end," Campbell said of being the backup to start the post-season run. "It's a nice win, nice to get a shot, and I'm just happy for the guys. Stuey's been playing great when he's been in there. We had a tough first but everybody bounced back and it feels good."
"He made a couple of huge saves when he came in, and obviously he hadn't played in a little bit," Kane said of the netminder. "And coming in cold in the middle of a playoff game, down 3-0, can be tough. But he's a veteran guy. He's been around the league a long time and he has a lot of experience, and that provided him some help tonight."

"Not an easy situation," Hyman echoed. "It hasn't been an easy year for him, but the way he showed up tonight was really great and we're very fortunate to have him."
Campbell compared Sunday's game to the gold-medal match at the 2010 World Junior Championship in Saskatoon as he took over for Mike Lee early in the middle frame and made 32 of 34 saves to back-stop the United States to a 6-5 overtime win over the host Canadians.
"Not in the NHL, that's for sure," he said when asked if he'd ever experienced a relief appearance of Sunday's magnitude. "But the gold-medal game against Canada was a good rehearsal."
Woodcroft said after the game he and his support staff will "sleep on things and see where we're at after that" regarding which goaltender will start Tuesday's Game 5 at Rogers Place.