A goaltending controversy in Edmonton? What?!?
There’s no goaltending controversy in Edmonton.
Stuart Skinner is the No. 1 goalie for the Edmonton Oilers. There isn’t any doubt among those who are paying attention, as the newly acquired Jack Campbell struggles to find his game.
Two days after Campbell’s Oilers lost 7-2 in Carolina, Skinner’s Oilers ground out a gritty, physical, playoff-style 4-2 win at Florida, on a 40-save night where the rookie tendy carried the Oilers through a scoreless first period, where the shots favoured Florida, 20-7.
“He gave us a chance to find our legs — a big credit to Stuey,” Leon Draisaitl told reporters after Saturday’s game. “Sometimes you obviously need that. We needed it tonight.”
Skinner, who turned 24 on Nov. 1, has put together a .932 save percentage this young season, a 3-3 record and a 2.53 goals-against average. Behind Vegas’ Logan Thompson, Skinner is the next rookie goalie sensation in the NHL this season.
Should we be surprised?
“I’m not surprised. I don’t think anyone in here is necessarily surprised,” said Draisaitl, standing inside the Oilers postgame dressing room. “He’s always had the potential and now it’s coming together. He’s still very young, but very, very promising.”
Campbell, meanwhile, hasn’t been nearly as reliable. Though it must be said, he’s drawn many of the Oilers’ worst team performances this season.
“I don’t think we’ve necessarily given our goalies our best games as a team in front of them,” said Draisaitl. “We’ve got to help these two guys. Soupy, to me, every time he’s in there, it feels like we lay an absolute egg. So, we’ve got to be a little better for them.”
Draisaitl’s skaters obliged in a Saturday matinee at the FLA Live Arena, where the Panthers had been 15-1-1 in their last 17 home games. When it was over, the Oilers had won for the 12th time in their last 13 visits to Florida.
Tyson Barrie blasted home two goals, and Warren Foegele — elevated to the top-six on Draisaitl’s left wing — stole a puck from Sasha Barkov, then one-timed a pass from Draisaitl behind Spencer Knight for Foegele’s second goal of the season and this road trip.
This was May hockey played in November, a tight-checking, one-goal game throughout between two teams that fancy themselves Stanley Cup contenders. Skinner wasn’t any better than Knight – both were fabulous. But Edmonton’s depth players found a way to influence a win just a little bit more the Panthers’ depth players impacted a loss.
Mattias Janmark, in his second game as an Oiler, played that solid fourth-line game that caught GM Ken Holland’s eye when he signed Janmark as a free agent in the summer. Jesse Puljujarvi was marginally better with the puck but a demon on defence, as he broke up play after play until he finally made the key check that resulted in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ empty-net goal.
And Foegele, whose game is on the rise, was excellent.
He is never likely to be a 25-goal scorer, but when Foegele skates, hits and checks like he has for the past week, he is an effective, hard-to-play-against entity.
Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft liked Foegele’s game, and every other Oilers player who played much the same way as Edmonton refused to go home with anything less than a 2-2 record from this four-game roadie.
“The type of game we played today, it wasn’t always pretty,” began Woodcroft, “We made mistakes and whatnot. But there was a mindset that I believe we bring with us on the road. We’re 5-2 on the road.
“Now, we have to bring that mindset with us when we get back home in front of the best fans in the world. And, so far, we’ve been uneven in our play at home.”
Before the Oilers set their sights on a Wednesday date at home against last season’s first-round foes, the Los Angeles Kings, Skinner will continue to carry his mates when he splits the tab up with Markus Niemelainen and Dylan Holloway at a Saturday night rookie dinner in Florida. Then, the team gets a nice day off in the sun on Sunday, before flying home to Edmonton on Monday morning.
Of course, these things are scheduled long in advance. But rescuing this road trip with a win at Florida left everyone with a better taste in their mouth, heading into a boozy rookie dinner and perhaps a day on a fishing boat or at the beach Sunday. Or maybe the Dolphins game.
“You set your goals … you want to come out of this 3-1,” said Barrie. “But they’re all good teams, and we’ve had some tough travel. So, to come out .500, I wouldn’t say it’s a win but it’s definitely not a loss.”
“After how we’ve played (inconsistently), I think we can be happy with that,” said Draisaitl. “In general, that’s not how you want to play every road trip, right? But yeah, it was good finish to the road trip. Gotta take this over now and keep it going.”
