Stuart Skinner has been in a bit of a funk recently, highlighted by a sub-.900 save percentage in four of his previous five games. This included allowing three goals on just 14 shots in his last start, at home to the Washington Capitals.
Now yes, there's no shame in losing to the team with the best record in the NHL, and particularly when playing without a certain Connor McDavid. However, even though the Oilers outplayed the Capitals on the night, they lost because of goalie who couldn't step up despite facing his fewest shots since the first game of the 2024-25 season.
As a result, there was some concern that Skinner was showing signs of regression at a time of the season when the Oilers need him to be showing more stability. This in turn added fuel to the fire that, no matter how talented he is -- and he is very talented -- that he is just too inconsistent for someone who is meant to be a number one goalie.
Now this is not to say that all of the criticism is warranted, with there being occasions this season when Skinner has been hung out to dry by the players in front of him. In addition, as noted many times before, he is an affable person who is liked by teammates, opponents, the media and fans alike.
Stuart Skinner stands tall against the Sabres
In any event on a Saturday afternoon in Edmonton, the 26-year-old picked an ideal time to come up trumps, in a game where his teammates' collective defensive performance was left wanting. Despite the Oilers facing a season-high 41 shots against the lowly Sabres of all teams, they won 3-2 thanks to their mercurial goaltender.
Skinner tied a season-high with 39 saves, including stopping a monstrous 19 shots in the third period, and was quite rightly awarded the First Star of the Game. This really was a case of his stealing a game for the Oilers, when by every rights they should have suffered what would have been an embarrassing home defeat to the worst team in the Eastern Conference.
Now yes, it is also important to note that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a season-high two goals, at a time when critics have commented on him not having one of his better seasons. In addition, Jeff Skinner managed to contribute a goal, something which has been a rarity this season for a player who usually averages around 25 per campaign.
Oilers coach full of praise for his goalie
Again though, Skinner deserves the majority of the adulation and headlines, with his head coach leading the praise for how well he played. As per Jamie Umbach of NHL.com, Kris Knoblauch said:
"Multiple big saves from the slot and at the end of the game. When it was 2-1 for them, a couple of breakaways that he stopped. I can go through many multiple big saves that he made."
As for Skinner himself, he took his usual approach of instead focusing on the team success as a whole, and giving credit all around. Also as per Umbach, he said:
"I think we've just learnt a bit quicker this year. It probably felt a lot worse than what it actually was, but the way that we've been playing, it says a lot about the group and how mature we are and how much mental resiliency we have."
As the Sabres piled on the pressure during the third period, it looked as if they had tied the game at 3-3 through Jiri Kulich, but fortunately for the Oilers it was ruled he had kicked the puck in from the crease. Speaking about the incident, Skinner said:
"I just saw the skate move and I was just telling Gene [Principe] in the other interview that I didn't know if it was Bouch's skate or not. So after Bouch was yelling at the ref, I was asking him if he kicked it in or not, so I'm happy that he said no. It was kind of a funny little weird play."
With the win, the Oilers have finally ascended to the top of the Pacific Division standings ahead of the slumping Vegas Golden Knights. It will be surprising to some, to note they haven't won a division title since 1986-87. (That's right, nearly 40 yeas ago.)
The Oilers are now also within four points of the Winnipeg Jets at the summit of the Western Conference standings as of Sunday morning, with the two sides still to face each other twice more this season. Next up, their season-long six-game home stand will continue on Monday night, versus the Seattle Kraken.