"Not gonna make any excuses": Skinner shoulders blame in Oilers loss to the Lightning

Hockey can be a gruelling game at times, something the Edmonton Oilers and their fans are well aware of after last night.

The Oilers were looking to win their ninth straight outing versus the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, and played more than good enough to do so. In fact, it could be argued it was their best overall team game of the season, as they dominated the Lightning from puck drop to finish. That said, they wound up falling by a 7-4 final, putting an end to their lengthy streak.

The main story in this one was goaltending, as Andrei Vasilevskiy kicked aside 53 of the 57 shots he faced, while Stuart Skinner stopped just 17 of 22. After the game, the Oilers’ young netminder owned the fact that he wasn’t good enough for his team.

“I’m not going to make any excuses,” Skinner told reporters. “Move on and work forward.

“I think the guys played a heckuva game. I don’t think anybody in this room should be upset except for me, to be honest. I think that I ended up kind of losing us the game. That’s something that I’ll take on, and I’ll be better for it. I think these guys in here should all be very happy with how they played. They were fantastic.”

“You learn from your mistakes & you move on.”

Stuart Skinner shares his perspective on the loss at home. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/cGlA2a9PDQ

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) December 15, 2023

As frustrating as it was for fans to see how last night’s game played out, it is important to remember just how good Skinner has been playing as of late. Heading into last night’s outing, he was a perfect 7-0-0 in his last seven starts, during which time he had a 1.70 goals against average (GAA) along with a .935 save percentage (SV%). It was clear after a rough start to the season, that he had dug deep and was really finding his game.

The hope now for both him and the Oilers is that last night’s result was nothing more than a bump in the road, as they will need him to be at his best for the remainder of the season if they hope to make the playoffs.

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