As valiant and impressive as the Edmonton Oilers' comeback was from 4-0 down on Monday night, the reality is that overall they were second-best to the Los Angeles Kings in a 6-5 loss. And at the heart of this letdown in Game One of their first round playoff series, was the performance of Stuart Skinner.
Skinner was coming off the worst regular season of his time in the NHL, as he set career worsts with a .896 save percentage, 2.81 GAA, 3.00 GAA/A, 12 RBS and a -5.3 GSAA, (We have not included 2020-21, when he only played one game.) For a goalie who is renowned for being talented but eratic, his inconsistency was worse than ever in 2024-25.
Unfortuanately for everyone concerned, the Edmonton native's inconsistent form continued into Game One against the Kings. Truly, he could not have picked a worse game to allow a playoff career high of six goals, when usually scoring five times yourselves should be (more than) enough to win a contest.
Not close to all Skinner's fault, BUT ...
At this point, let's be clear in stressing that it was not all Skinner's fault on Monday night, with Evan Bouchard being one of the biggest culprits when it came to the defensive efforts of the Oilers. In addition, we contend that few netminders would have stopped three of the goals the Kings scored.
However, the reality remains that Skinner was still left wanting far too much in Los Angeles. Also consider that one of the goals he should definitely have stopped, was the Kings' winner with just 42 seconds remaining in the third period.
Clearly the Oilers missed Mattias Ekholm on the night, and we mustn't forget the blue line was comprised of players who have dealt with injuries, including some who haven't played much of late. However, surely this is even more reason for the need of your goalie to exert their influence and 'steal' games?
People will point to how Skinner repeatedly started slowly in the first half of series during last season's run to the Stanley Cup Final. How he always stepped up and showed his talent in games 4-7 each round, helping the Oilers take it all the way to a Game Seven versus the Florida Panthers.
However, there remains something unsettling and concerning about the likeable 26-year-old, who for some reason can't find more consistency in his game. This Oilers team all around just doesn't seem as good as last season's version, meaning can they ill afford to stick with a goalie who you can never know for sure if he can be relied upon or not?
Is Calvin Pickard already the solution for the Oilers?
Last season Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch made the brave decision to turn to Calvin Pickard for Games Three and Four of the second round playoff series against the Vancouver Canucks. And while it proved to be the correct move, ultimately Knoblauch still went back to Skinner for Game Six.
This time around, we believe the Oilers need to seriously consider turning to Pickard a lot sooner, perhaps as soon as Game Two on Wednesday night. His ceiling might not be as high as Skinner's, but he's a heck of a lot more stable.
In addition, Pickard has just played better overall in 2024-25 when compared to Skinner, with a .900 save percentage, 2.71 GAA, 2.90 GAA/A, 5 RBS and .677 quality starts (compared to .500). In addition, the Oilers backup also had a career-high 22 wins, which came in 26 appearances - his most since a career-best 50 back in 2016-17.
Overall, we know Knoblauch would ideally prefer to stick with Skinner, but this is not an ideal situation. The Oilers need to genuinely consider going to Pickard sooner than later, to avoid a potential and disastrous early exit from the playoffs.
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