LOS ANGELES — A late-season injury gave Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner time to reflect ahead of playoffs.
Now, after a wild 6-5 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Monday in Game 1 of their first-round series, the netminder is looking to put those reflections into practice as he and his teammates aim to channel their experience into a bounce-back performance.
“We’ve been in this situation many times," Skinner said Tuesday. "So for me, it’s just looking back at it and being ‘Yeah, been here, done that.’
"We’re going into Game 2. We know what to do, we know what to expect, we know how to play in it. That doesn’t necessarily mean we know what result is going to come from it but it gives us a sense of confidence in that we’ve been here before, we’ve been in a lot of worse situations before."
Skinner gave up six goals on 30 shots in Monday's loss, but Oilers captain Connor McDavid said it was hard to fault the goalie for many of those.
The team needs to do a better job of supporting the netminder and protecting the slot, said the superstar centre, who had a goal and three assists in Game 1.
“We’ve got lots of faith in him, we’ve got lots of belief in him," McDavid said. "We’ve won real big games with him. We’ve had him steal real big games for us. We’ve got a lot of belief in Stuart Skinner.”
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said he has not decided who will start in goal for Game 2 in L.A. on Wednesday.
He's said he expects to use both Skinner and backup Calvin Pickard across what Edmonton is hoping is a deep playoff run, and the determination will be made on a game-by-game basis as he and the coaching staff examine how the goalie played in the previous contest.
"I have no issues with Stuart Skinner’s game the other night," Knoblauch said. "Calvin Pickard’s come in, played a lot of games and he’s won a lot. So I think we have to balance where we are in the series, when we can have a change, when the goalie hasn’t played very well. There’s a lot to consider."
Pickard was pressed into action late in the regular season after Skinner was sidelined by a concussion after taking a knee to the head in Edmonton's 4-3 loss to the Dallas Stars on March 26.
He missed eight games before returning to play against the Winnipeg Jets and San Jose Sharks, backstopping his team to wins in both appearances.
The time off gave Skinner a chance to reflect, be with his family and get his mind and body "right."
"(Getting injured) can either be the best thing for you or it can be a negative thing," he said. "And I did my best to make it as positive as I could.”
Asked what he reflected on while sidelined, Skinner said he focused on how he wanted to look when he got back into games.
"I think the way things were going, it was a lot of up and down," he said.
The 26-year-old goalie posted a 26-18-4 record during the regular season with a 2.81 goals-against average, a .896 save percentage and three shutouts.
"For me, it was coming back and trying to be as steady as I possibly can, whether you lose 6-5 or you get a shutout, come back the same the next day," he added.
Goalie isn't the only position Knoblauch is looking at swapping heading into Game 2.
The head coach said defenceman John Klingberg and forward Evander Kane are also nearing returns from injury.
When to slot them into the lineup is a difficult decision, Knoblauch said.
In some past playoff runs, he's tried to maintain as much stability as possible with his lineups. But last year, as Edmonton ground its way to the Stanley Cup final, Knoblauch made a number of switches.
"Last year’s playoffs was something I had never done before. We had a lot of turnover," he said. "There was the starting goalie, defence, in and out. I’m certainly a lot more comfortable doing it.
"Changes are usually out of desperation. When things are going well, changes usually aren't being made. So the fewer changes are made, the better things are usually going. So I would like to not make any more changes."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22, 2025.
Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press
