In their last game before the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, the Edmonton Oilers engaged in a thrilling back-and-forth encounter versus the Colorado Avalanche. Unfortunately for the fans in attendance at Rogers Place, their team ultimately fell-short and lost 5-4.
That the Oilers lost, comes down mostly on the shoulders of Stuart Skinner, who had his worst game since the opening night of the season against the Winnipeg Jets in a 6-0 humiliation. He allowed three goals on just 12 shots and was replaced at the end of the first period.
Now we appreciate that there have been plenty of times when the defensive play in front of Skinner has been sorely lacking. However, on this particular occasion he was at fault for the first two goals he allowed, while there was admittedly little he could do on the Avalanche's third score of the opening 20 minutes.
Stuart Skinner is slow out of the gates
Interestingly, as noted by Mark Spector of Sportsnet, Skinner has a .879 save percentage in the first period this season, which alludes to him just not being fully focused from the get-go in games. This is not to say it's all on him, but it's not a good situation full stop, if the Oilers are continually having to play catch-up in the early stages of a contest.
On the season Skinner now has a .900 save percentage, 2.74 Goals Against Average (GAA) and -1.9 Goals Saved Above Average (GSAA). In other words, he's on course for the worst statistical campaign of his NHL career since his first season in 2020-21, when he played in just one game.
Now we realise we've defended Skinner repeatedly, noting that for all his inconsistency, he's an extremely talented goalie who usually comes up big when it matters most. Further, we recently criticised The Hockey Writers, for giving him a shockingly low ranking of 26th among the 32 main number one goalies in the NHL.
Calvin Pickard should not take over as Oilers number one
However, this does not mean that the Oilers couldn't use an upgrade between the pipes. Despite the calls for Calvin Pickard to be given more starts, he's not the solution, as per having a .901 save percentage and -0.4 GSAA himself.
It's all very well pointing at the Oilers ranking tied-ninth best in the NHL with a 2.75 team goals allowed per game, which is good in its own right. However, it's tough to ignore that they allow the sixth-fewest shots per contest at 26.7, but are only ranked tied-19th in the NHL with a team .900 save percentage.
This is quite simply not good enough for a team with genuine Stanley Cup aspirations and containing the best player in the game and another who is in the top five. The reality is that the Oilers need more consistent and better play in goal, otherwise it will ultimately cost them when it matters most come playoff time.
As far as we're concerned, targeting a quality goaltender should be the Oilers' number one priority between now and the Mar. 7 trade deadline. There is too much at stake for a team which had put themselves in position to challenge for the best record in the NHL and home ice advantage throughout the playoffs, but has since gone just 5-4-1 in their past 10 games.
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