Skinner, Oilers looking to make adjustments
GAME DAY: VANCOUVER AT EDMONTON, 6 P.M.
EDMONTON — Stuart Skinner has been here before.
Like every professional hockey player, the Edmonton Oilers goalie has weathered periods of patchy play over his career. Now he’s looking to those experiences as he fights to regain his form.
“I think going through those adversities have really helped me, especially the situation that I’m in right now. Because I know I’ve been here before, I’ve been in a situation where maybe it doesn’t feel like it’s going your way,” Skinner said Monday, less than 24 hours after he was pulled from Edmonton’s 4-3 Game 3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks.
“It’s a position that I’ve been in before and I’m very grateful for those experiences so that I’m not a complete mess right now.”
Skinner gave up four goals on 15 shots Sunday as the Canucks took a 2-1 edge in the best-ofseven, second-round series.
The mistakes were 90 per cent mental, the 25-year-old goalie said.
“I think physically there are little adjustments I can make. But to be super honest, I don’t think it’s anything technical. I think it’s just me being able to find saves at key times, and I haven’t been able to do that,” he said.
A question mark looms over whether Skinner starts for a pivotal Game 4 in Edmonton tonight.
Skinner has bounced back well all season, said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch, but Edmonton’s coaching staff won’t reveal who will take the net until this morning.
“We’ve got a decision to make, but I think either guy that we choose could get the job done,” he said.
Skinner isn’t the only one Knoblauch is looking to get more out of in Game 4.
The coach has leaned hard on his superstars through the first three games of the series, playing Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl nearly 30 minutes apiece on Sunday.
He knows that usage isn’t sustainable, but admits turning to other players can be difficult when the team’s top players are producing and Edmonton is chasing the game.
Draisaitl has two goals and six assists in the series, while McDavid has a goal and four helpers. Zach Hyman has also contributed two goals and an assist.
“It is tough having that temptation [to play McDavid and Draisaitl]. “Hopefully the temptation is alleviated with a two- or three-goal lead,” Knoblauch said.
“We have other players that have shown they can score. … We’ve got a lot of guys that can help out. Maybe not for one game but also throughout the playoffs we’re going to need some more contributions.”
Asked Monday whether he can continue to play 30 minutes a night, McDavid said he “felt great.”
“Ultimately, I go out there when the coach asks me to and that’s what I’ll keep doing,” the Oilers captain said.
• Canucks defenceman Carson Soucy has been suspended one game for a cross-check on McDavid.
A skirmish began after the final buzzer sounded in Vancouver’s 4-3 victory in Game 3 Sunday after Soucy shoved McDavid behind the Canucks’ net and McDavid responded by hitting Soucy’s leg with his stick.
Canucks blueliner Nikita Zadorov then cross-checked McDavid from behind, and Soucy cross-checked the Oilers captain in the face as he was falling.
Soucy was handed a minor penalty for the play and the NHL’s Department of Player Safety handed down a one-game suspension Monday, saying in a video that the defenceman’s actions were “not a hockey play” and deserved additional discipline.
Zadorov was fined US$5,000 by the NHL, the maximum amount under the collective bargaining agreement.
Soucy told reporters Monday that he wasn’t trying to injure McDavid on the play.
“It’s just an unfortunate incident due to some timing. … Obviously there wasn’t intent to get a player up that high,” he said before the suspension was announced.
“Emotions run high in those scrums at the end of the game.”
Missing game time would be difficult, the 29-year-old defenceman said.
“It would suck, obviously, at this time, in a tight series like this, in a physical series,” Soucy said. “I know guys will step up if that is the case. But it sucks having to watch your team.”