Stuart Skinner wasn't at fault for Game 3 loss, but Oilers need him back at his best

New York Times

2 days ago

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Narratives during the playoffs can flip back and forth like a boomerang, and the velocity tends to ramp up when the Stanley Cup is on the line.
Case in point: Stuart Skinner. The mustachioed Edmonton Oilers goaltender has gone from the impenetrable shutout king and the guy who outduelled Jake Oettinger again to getting pulled in Game 3 after allowing five goals for the second straight contest.
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In terms of problems from Monday's 6-1 loss to the defending champion Florida Panthers, Skinner wasn't at the top of the list. Considering the Oilers' discipline issues, a stagnant offense and getting hemmed in by an aggressive Panthers forecheck, Skinner might not even make the podium.
But he is the goalie, and pucks are getting past him greater frequency — something that was particularly apparent Monday.
'I don't think there are any bad goals,' Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. 'Maybe an extra save (would have helped). But it doesn't matter how well Stu played — it wouldn't have made any difference in the game, most likely. I'm not holding anything against Stu on that performance.'
But Knoblauch wouldn't declare Skinner his Game 4 starter after the game and reiterated that stance a day later.
'We haven't decided,' he said Tuesday. 'We'll announce that before the game.'
Skinner was in the starter's net at practice, a sign he's likely to play on Thursday, despite a lack of confirmation from the coach. But Calvin Pickard, a six-win backup this postseason, is at the ready, and it seems like Skinner's leash is getting shorter.
Monday was the Oilers' worst game of the playoffs since Game 2 of their opening-round series against the Los Angeles Kings, a 6-2 loss. Perhaps not coincidentally, Skinner was pulled that night, also in the third period, after allowing five goals on 28 shots. He was on the same below-average level as the Oilers skaters in front of him in that one, just as was the case in Florida.
'I think a lot of the games that Stu maybe wasn't on his A game, our team wasn't on its A game in front of him,' Knoblauch said.
Pickard got the crease when the Oilers came home for Game 3 after Skinner surrendered 11 goals through his first 5 ½ periods of the postseason. Pickard won four straight against the Kings to pull the Oilers out of the depths of despair and then started the next round against Vegas with two more victories. He would have stayed in the net had he not suffered an injury when Golden Knights forward Tomas Hertl fell on him.
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Skinner had been outstanding after returning to the crease until the final began. He had some excellent stretches during the first two games in Edmonton as well.
Monday's performance was different. The Oilers were poor and disjointed. Skinner was unable to bail out his teammates.
'We've got to do a better job in front of him,' defenseman Darnell Nurse said. 'This isn't the first time that we've said that over the course of the playoffs. When you make your goaltender make Grade-A stops, it's tough, especially against a really good team. We're going to have to defend better. All things we are capable of doing.'
Skinner accepted his share of the blame after Monday's trouncing. There wasn't an excuse to be found despite how seemingly difficult it was to get into the game with seven power plays in the first period – four for Florida and three for Edmonton.
'It's definitely difficult, but that's hockey,' he said. 'If I wasn't able to handle it, I shouldn't be playing.'
Skinner found a couple of the goals he let in to be 'chaotic.' There were some great shots, he said, by Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart before Sam Bennett's breakaway goal where he never seemed to have a chance.
'But as a goalie, you've got to come up with a save,' Skinner said. 'It doesn't matter. It's a game of inches. I don't like letting open shots in, so I take accountability on those.'
'I don't know how much we're going to put on Stu,' Oilers captain Connor McDavid said after the loss. 'That's honorable of him to try to do that. We can be better for sure.'
Five pucks beat Skinner on 23 Panthers shots before he was yanked with 16:33 left in the third period after an Aaron Ekblad power-play goal.
'We're not playing very well in front of him,' Knoblauch said. 'I don't think it's fair for him to stick in it and play through it. Whether we use (Pickard) again, there's a little opportunity for him to get some playing time so when we do use him, he's a little more comfortable when he goes in that net.'
These playoffs, perhaps even more than last year, have showcased Skinner's extreme highs and lows. He has three shutouts and was tremendous during latter stages of the second round and in the Western Conference final, yet he has a below-average .894 save percentage over the full postseason.
Evan Bouchard is up there for the most polarizing Oiler among the fan base during the regular season, but his elite annual playoff performances make up for that. Nurse, largely because of his $9.25 million cap hit, gets plenty of scorn, too.
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But it's Skinner, as the hometown kid who plays the most important position in the sport, who probably takes the cake. He tends to either run red-hot or ice-cold with little grey area in between. That's part of the reason Knoblauch referred to him as a 'really good goaltender' in late November before the 4 Nations rosters were due, but with a caveat. Of course, Skinner wasn't named to Team Canada.
'There's elite goalies who are winning trophies and awards,' Knoblauch said then. 'I think he's right below that.'
It's not like Skinner lets in putrid goals with great regularity. The stinker his Panthers counterpart Sergei Bobrovsky surrendered to Viktor Arvidsson in the second period of Game 2 probably goes down as the softest goal allowed in this series. It's just that there are times when he's not stopping enough pucks. Skinner has given up 3.3 more goals than expected in all situations in the series, per Natural Stat Trick. That was highlighted by allowing 2.48 more goals than expected in Game 3 alone.
Skinner has shown he can be much better. That he's been so recently superb probably buys him the enough clout to lead the team onto the ice for Game 4.
Provided Skinner does get the call on Thursday, the Oilers will need more from him – and out of themselves.
'He's been playing unbelievable in the last, what, three, four, five weeks,' defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. 'I don't know how long it's been now, but it feels like a long time that he hasn't had a bad game. Maybe (Monday) night was one of those when it was good to get it out of the system. Hopefully, it's one of those, a night off.
'I've got all the confidence in the world that our D corps, our defensive game, our goalie is going to step up big in Game 4.'