Oilers GM Stan Bowman: ‘We wouldn’t be here’ without Stuart Skinner
For all the criticism levied against Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner over the past few years, he’s about to do something very few goalies have done in the 21st Century.
And that’s playing in the Stanley Cup final for the second straight year.
The Oilers are set to take on the Florida Panthers in a Stanley Cup Final rematch, with Game 1 set to kick off Wednesday evening. Skinner is expected to start Game 1 after winning six of his past seven starts during this playoff run. In that type, he has three shutouts and has allowed one goal in two of the remaining four contests.
Those numbers are noteworthy, given that Skinner lost the starter’s gig to Calvin Pickard during the first-round matchup against Los Angeles. But an injury to Pickard against Vegas thrust Skinner back into the spotlight, and Oilers GM Stan Bowman has been happy with what he has seen.
“He has a good demeanor for a goalie,” Bowman said during media day on Tuesday. “He’s a pretty easy-going guy. It’s the toughest position in sports, probably, with the attention that they get. You look up and down the lineup. Everyone makes mistakes. Forwards do, defensemen do. When the goalie does, then everyone pays attention. A lot of times, a forward will make a terrible play, and you don’t even talk about it because it gets broken up by a defenseman or the goalie makes a save.
“So I think you have to have that ability to shrug things off. And he’s a very even-keeled guy. So yeah, he’s had some ups and downs. I think people probably focus more on the downs than the ups. He had a real good stretch there from– I think our team started slow in October. But early November until probably mid-January, he played really well. Our team was on a roll. And then you see what he can do when he comes in to the last couple of rounds here.”
Skinner had a 7.14 goals saved above expected over five games at 5-on-5 in the third round, putting him first in the NHL. His 3.31 GSAx since the start of the postseason is good for fifth, and far better than Sergei Bobrovsky’s 0.28.
“He started in LA and our team wasn’t very good the first couple games either,” Bowman continued. “We didn’t give him much help and he wasn’t on top of his game either. But he was able to shrug that off and he came back in and we wouldn’t be here without him the way he’s played. So I think a lot of the goal-tending is the mentality. Because mistakes happen, goals are going to happen nearly every game, and the ability to deal with that adversity I think has been impressive.”
Skinner went 3-4 against the Panthers in the Stanley Cup final a year ago, with the highlight being a 32-save victory in Game 4 to avoid getting swept. That win helped spark the Oilers, with Skinner allowing more than two goals just once the rest of the way.