NEW YORK — After his first start of the season, a 4-3 shootout loss to the Calgary Flames on opening night, Stuart Skinner chose to remember about 73 minutes of his evening. Meanwhile, Oilers Nation lost their minds over roughly three seconds of it.
Through 65 minutes of hockey and the ensuing 16-shooter shootout, Skinner had been exceptional. Well, except for that miscommunication on the first shift of the third period, where a moment of indecisiveness cost the Oilers a game-tying goal.
So, which part was truly indicative of the kind of season Skinner was going to have?
Well, if Tuesday’s 2-0 shutout of the New York Rangers gives us a clue, maybe we can all let the three seconds go.
“No matter what,” the Oilers goalie began after this 30-save evening at the fabled Madison Square Garden, “if I’m playing the way that I want to play, then I’m going to feel good. You just want to carry that on, despite wins or losses. Despite external ideas, thoughts or whatever’s going on out there.”
Oh, there’s always a lot going on “out there” for Skinner, a local boy who plays goal in a Canadian market. The noise, well, it can be deafening.
“That position, it can be a very mental thing,” said veteran centre Adam Henrique, whose empty-net goal sealed the Rangers’ goalless fate. “There’s one gaffe — I might make a mistake up the ice or something, but the goalie is that last man standing for that last mistake that you see.”
On Tuesday, Skinner’s clean sheet was well earned. In a game where the Oilers did not get a power play, they surrendered three and survived each one.
“Stu was our best (penalty) killer,” said Darnell Nurse. “He was huge for us all night. Obviously, there’s going to be breakdowns. There’s going to be moments where he’s got to make big saves. He did that a handful times for us tonight.”
This is being billed as the biggest year of Skinner’s young career: an expiring contract matched by expiring confidence from an organization that has lost consecutive Stanley Cup Finals in which the other goalie was deemed superior. Edmonton GM Stan Bowman is looking to get better wherever he has to, and most folks are looking at his crease as a place to begin.
Well, two starts into his season, Skinner has earned three points, has a .942 save percentage and a 1.44 goals-against average.
The Oilers have allowed one goal in the past two games, and just four over their first nine periods (plus one overtime) of the season. They’re not lighting up the scoreboard, but defence and goaltending like this will take a team a long way.
“The way that we defended, the way that we just battled, block shots…,” marvelled Skinner, who collected career win No. 99 to open up this five-game Eastern swing. “Rico (Henrique) had a massive one. I mean, you can name every single guy pretty well, just how hard they worked in our end.”
Trent Frederic scored his first regular-season goal as an Oiler, converting a breakaway that was furnished by Kasperi Kapanen, whose game was excellent Tuesday. Edmonton made that goal stand up, while helping the Rangers to an embarrassing NHL record as the first club in modern league history to open their season by being shut out in three consecutive home games.
The now-defunct Pittsburgh Pirates are the only team with a longer goal-less skein to open a season at home: 187:19, set way back in 1928.
No one in the Oilers room was fretting over the Rangers’ problems, of course, or looking up the Pirates roster in search of a long-lost great uncle.
This was a welcome win for an Edmonton team that has played a ton of these games in May and June. Making a 1-0 lead stand up in Game 3 of the season can be a nice reminder that, when required, you can win that way as well.
“It’s really good for our morale in general, being able to fight one off. Being able to battle, grind, and win a game in a hard way,” Skinner said. “That was a man’s game out there, and that’s the way the guys played. They deserved the two points tonight.”
“You get those games when February, March and April come around, gearing up for the playoffs,” added Nurse. “But to have one early on, it’s good because those are the tests that you want to pass over the course of the season — for when those bigger moments happen in the spring.”
Oil spills
Jack Roslovic made his Oilers debut, a quiet night with no shots or points in 13:10 of ice time … Henrique won eight of 12 faceoffs, sealed the game with an ENG, and blocked a key shot among the 23 blocked by Edmonton … The Oilers had a crowded press box, with Mattias Janmark, Jake Walman, Alec Regula, Noah Philp and Curtis Lazar all watching from above. If Walman, Regula and Janmark are all going to join the team on this trip, as head coach Kris Knoblauch hopes, some roster manipulation will be required.
