Edmonton Oilers’ Stuart Skinner suddenly skyrocketing up NHL playoff leaderboards
The roller coaster of the Edmonton Oilers’ goaltending situation is climbing at the moment.
It’s been the biggest issue for this iteration of the Oilers, especially after Stuart Skinner lost the net in the first round against the LA Kings. Luckily, backup Calvin Pickard was able to come in a steady the ship before he went down with an injury in the second round.
Returning to Skinner midway through Edmonton’s series felt like a critical moment for the Oilers. Either his struggles would continue and potentially crater the team’s Stanley Cup hopes, or he would miraculously rebound. Fortunately for the Edmonton native, the latter came to fruition in ways nobody expected.
Skinner has played in six playoff games since Pickard was injured and has gone 4-3 in that span with three shutout victories and a sparkling .936 save percentage. He has successfully revived his postseason, going from a .810 save percentage in the first round to an overall .902 ahead of Game 4 of the Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars.
That is good enough for eighth among all playoff goalies, and he is nipping at the heels of Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger, whose overall SV% has dropped from .920 to .906 in this series against the Oilers.
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This seemed like an impossible reality for the Oilers just a few weeks ago, but Skinner is looking like the kind of goalie that could reasonably backstop Edmonton to a Stanley Cup victory.
The splits on Skinner’s save percentages in away and home games are also very interesting. Through three rounds, the 26-year-old goaltender is pitching a mediocre .881 on the road but has an excellent .938 when playing in front of the Rogers Place faithful.
In terms of goals-save-above-expected (GSAx), MoneyPuck has him ranked 12th of 27 playoff goalies with a +0.2. That is quite the improvement from being ranked second-to-last with a -6.7 GSAx following Game 3’s loss against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Another stat that Skinner has been excelling at is shutouts. His three have him tied for the playoff lead with Florida Panthers star Sergei Bobrovsky, despite the Edmonton native having played seven fewer games.
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It’s been about as wild a playoff run as possible for Skinner, but if he can find a way to keep up this play, nobody will remember his early struggles.