Skinner bounces back for Oilers after losing net earlier in Stanley Cup Playoffs

EDMONTON -- Stuart Skinner admits it hasn’t gone smoothly for him this season.

In a city with a tendency to eat its own, the homegrown goalie has faced some backlash for what has been perceived as inconsistent play.

Yet, Skinner blocked out all the noise and has been impressive since regaining the net for the Edmonton Oilers. On Sunday, he may have played his best game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in a 6-1 win against the Dallas Stars in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final here at Rogers Place.

“I think Skinner was a difference-maker tonight,” Stars forward Mikko Rantanen said. “I think he was really good. He made key saves. Even when it was 3-1, [Tyler Seguin] had a Grade A in the slot, and 10 seconds later it was 4-1. He was the MVP of the match, I would say.”

It’s not often a goalie is named the first star in a five-goal victory, but without Skinner, things could have been much different for Edmonton, which took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.

Game 4 will be here at Rogers Place on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, ESPN, ESPN+).

“I thought we were fortunate to be up after 40 [minutes], but I thought Stu did a great job,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who scored two goals. “We played really solid in front of him in Game 2 (a 3-0 win Friday), but not so solid tonight, and he gave us a chance to get our legs into it and gave us a chance to win.”

Skinner made 20 saves in the second period alone, barring the door Dallas was trying to kick in after falling behind 2-0. Stars forward Jason Robertson tipped in a shot from Lian Bichsel at 15:35 to cut it to 2-1, but that was the only goal Dallas would score in the game.

“They brought a ton of speed, got a lot of [offensive] zone time and got some good chances,” Skinner said. “At that point, we were just trying to keep things at bay. We knew that was going to happen. They were down 2-0 at that time, so you knew they were going to come out hard and give everything that they had, and they definitely did that. They were definitely the better team in the second period, and we knew that going into the third, so we just had to reset and we battled it out.”

Skinner has been battling since arriving in Edmonton five seasons ago and still is trying to prove to critics that he can be a high-end starting goalie and backstop the Oilers to the Stanley Cup.

Even getting within one game of the Cup last season wasn’t enough to fend off some of his detractors. And when he struggled early during the playoffs, losing the net to Calvin Pickard after the first two games of the first round against the Los Angeles Kings, the outside noise grew in octaves.

But the Oilers always had confidence in Skinner and believed he would get back in the net and find his game.

“The way we play defensively impacts the goaltending so much,” said Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who had three assists in Game 3. “We need to be sharp in front of him and give him every chance to make the easy saves, and then sometimes he needs to step up and make the big ones. He’s been doing that. It’s definitely got to go both ways. He’s competitive, he wants to perform for us. We see him compete every day.”

Skinner is as dialed in as he’s ever been with the Oilers.

Since returning during Game 3 of the second round against the Vegas Golden Knights, he is 4-2 with a 1.64 goals-against average, .936 save percentage and three shutouts. Overall, he's 4-4 in the postseason with a 2.66 GAA and .902 save percentage.

“It’s ebbs and flows,” Skinner said. “You can feel it right away, and sometimes you don’t feel it right away. I wish I felt it all the time, but that’s just something that comes with it, and I think for myself it’s coming out of the last game too. I felt really good, so I’m just trying my best to keep that going.”

Skinner has been gaining confidence with every start, and he’s expected to go the rest of the way for Edmonton with Pickard out because of a lower-body injury.

“I felt confident before, it’s the life of being a goaltender,” Skinner said. “[Pickard] was fantastic coming in, obviously, and gave me a chance to work on some things and clear the head a little bit. I’ve been feeling confident the whole time. Even when I came back, the first game that we lost and I let in four, and then I let in five against Dallas [in Game 1], it hasn’t all been perfect.”

In a long playoff run, it’s tough to be perfect. However, the way Skinner is playing lately, he gives the Oilers confidence they can return to the Stanley Cup Final, where they lost 2-1 in Game 7 to the Florida Panthers last season.

“For him to get dialed in and playing the way he is, as much help as you can give him, it lays on his shoulders and I think he’s done a tremendous job rebounding after a stretch after he hasn’t played well, and his stretches usually aren’t that long,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “He usually rebounds quite quickly and plays a solid game. I’ve seen it all last year and this year during playoffs. That first round wasn’t how he anticipated, but since he’s come back he’s been really good.”