"Puck luck wasn't on my side": Skinner reflects on Oilers loss in Game 2
Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner let in five goals on 26 shots in a 5-4 OT loss against the LA Kings in Game 2, but he didn’t have a problem with how he played.
The 25-year-old sophomore goaltender allowed three goals on LA’s first 10 shots, two of which looked stoppable.
“It was okay,” Skinner said when asked to assess his game. “I thought I didn’t really do too much. I don’t think that I was a big factor in the game tonight.”
"I know who I am, I know my game & Iām going to get back to work."
Skinner shares his perspective after a Game 2 loss to the Kings. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/ujpL5SaF4R
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) April 25, 2024
The other goals against consisted of some fluky passes and deflections, including one on a Drew Doughty breakaway where the Kings defender didn’t even manage a shot but the puck slid between Skinner’s five-hole anyway.
DOUGHTY WITH THE BREAKAWAY GOAL LATE IN THE FIRST šØš#NHL | #GoKingsGoĀ | #LetsGoOilersĀ
pic.twitter.com/qIC0S2jO7h— The Cam & Strick Podcast (@CamandStrick) April 25, 2024
“Puck luck wasn’t on my side tonight,” Skinner explained. “Games like this you feel like the universe is against you… pucks just not working well for you and, you know, all these things. It’s part of life.”
“It’s part of playoffs too. I’m sure I’ll feel this again.”
Anze Kopitar’s OT winner was certainly a strange one. The play developed innocently enough as the puck was shot up the boards toward the Oilers’ end and took a weird hop off Quinton Byfield’s stick to send the Kings captain in on a partial break.
“I’m not too sure why they’re dumping in the puck in like that and then it just goes off a stick right onto [Kopitar’s] tape… gets a nice shot off, goal, and out of there.”
KING KOPITAR š
Anže Kopitar scores the @SUBWAYCanada OT winner for the Los Angeles Kings! pic.twitter.com/cVAWn0tPOz
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 25, 2024
One of the Oilers biggest question marks going into the postseason was their goaltending. Skinner didn’t exactly light the world on fire with his play in last year’s playoff run and the hope was that a year of experience would clean things up in the Edmonton crease.
In two games so far, Skinner has allowed nine goals and has a .850 save percentage. The series is only tied at 1-1, but the Oilers will have to get some better goaltending if they want to make a deep playoff run.
Luckily, it appears that Skinner has the right mindset to change that heading into Game 3 in LA on Friday.
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