Jets chase Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner from net after five unanswered goals
For a team with Stanley Cup aspirations and unfinished business following their Game 7 loss last season, their quest to return to the pinnacle of hockey go off to a rough start, to put it mildly.
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Clearly, it was not the Edmonton Oilers‘ night.
For a team with Stanley Cup aspirations and unfinished business following their Game 7 loss last season, their quest to return to the pinnacle of hockey got off to a rough start, to put it mildly.
So rough, in fact, that their No. 1 goaltender, Stuart Skinner, had his night cut short after the Winnipeg Jets slipped five unanswered goals past the fourth-year Oiler. Calvin Pickard, 32, stepped in between the pipes in relief.
The Nino Niederreiter-Adam Lowry-Mason Appleton line gave Skinner trouble early on, combining for the Jets’ two first-period goals.
The game was still in reach for the Oilers, however, before back-to-back goals from Rasmus Kupari and Dylan Samberg extended the lead to four goals.
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Despite allowing two goals in 20 seconds in the second period alone, the net was still Skinner’s to lose. That is, until Kyle Connor sent a tidy wrister over the right pad of the 25-year-old goaltender to seal his fate.
This was the seventh consecutive year that the 27-year-old Jet scored in their season opener — a new NHL record.
Skinner is in his third year acting as a starting goaltender for the Oilers. He weathered the majority of the starts in both 2022-23 and 2023-24 amidst struggles by former Edmonton netminder Jack Campbell.
Though his save percentage fell from a career-high .914 in 50 starts in 2022-23 to .905 in 59 starts during the 2023-24 season, he still managed to backstop his team to 23 wins.
Despite the lacklustre start, worry not, Oilers fans. Remember, the team began their 2023-24 campaign with an 8-2 thumping at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks, then progressed all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. There are still 81 games remaining and, with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl at the helm, don’t expect this to become a pattern.
