Was the heart-stopping Vegas buzzer beater Stuart Skinner’s fault? 

Buzzer beaters might be a rare occurrence in hockey, but Reilly Smith’s goal with 0.4 seconds remaining to take Game 3 for the Vegas Golden Knights against the Edmonton Oilers loomed large. 

While it first looked like the puck may not have gone in the net, it quickly became a question of whether it crossed the line in time. It did, and the video replay angle from above didn’t even have Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner in the frame.

Knowing there was little time on the clock, Skinner came out to challenge Smith on the final play. However, he failed to thwart the opportunity and faced criticism for his goaltending in the fateful moment. 

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live, Tyler Yaremchuk and Frank Seravalli looked at whether Skinner could have done better on the play.

Yaremchuk: I think Stuart Skinner played this relatively well. All he knows is that it’s the dying seconds and to get out of your net, make yourself big and take away the shot. He was just off by 0.4 seconds. I didn’t hate this one as much as some other people.

Seravalli: I’m an aggressive person by nature. I understand the want and need to be aggressive. Maybe this is one of those circumstances where [you shouldn’t be]. Why is he swimming here? Like, just stay in the net. If you stay in the net, this puck doesn’t go in. Look at how far out of the picture he is! You don’t even see him. He’s not even there!

You say the idea is to remove the shooter’s ability to take a shot, I guess. Nonetheless, the puck goes in, and you’re not there. Help me understand how if Stuart Skinner just stays in his crease, this goes into the net? I don’t get it. 

There are a lot of Stuart Skinner apologists out there who want to see him do better, and I get that. But we’ve arrived at the point where now, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer. With the Edmonton Oilers, they’re stuck with Skinner. 

They’ve got to roll with this guy, who I think has been anything short of a team suck on morale. I think every time that he’s in the net, there’s a letdown, whether it’s early in the game, whether it’s the team around him, and the way that they defend in front of him, it has not been anywhere near good enough. 

It’s not a coincidence to me that Stuart Skinner goes back into the net, and they end up losing.

You can catch the Oilers segment and the rest of Monday’s show here…