The Edmonton Oilers were thoroughly defeated by the Florida Panthers on Monday evening, a 6-1 defeat at Amerant Bank Arena and dropping them into a two-games-to-one series hole.
The Oilers had initially enjoyed a 1-0 series lead thanks to their overtime victory in Game 1, only to drop the next two games (including Game 2 in double overtime).
The Panthers scored early and often on Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner, who was eventually pulled after allowing five goals on 23 shots and gave way to Calvin Pickard, who had already supplanted him in net during their opening round series against the Los Angeles Kings.
Kris Knoblauch Defends Stuart Skinner Ahead of Game 4
The question on the minds of Oilers fans everywhere is which goaltender will be getting the start in net in Game 4. Right now, that’s something that head coach Kris Knoblauch is still giving careful consideration to. “We haven’t decided. We’ll announce that before the game,” Knoblauch told reporters Tuesday.
As far as what Knoblauch thought of Skinner’s performance, he wasn’t ready to openly criticize him, saying that the issue was the overall team game as a whole and how the rest of the Oilers players weren’t up to standard in front of him.
“Stu maybe wasn’t on his A-game, but our team wasn’t on their A-game in front of him,” Knoblauch said. “I don’t think there’s any bad goals, maybe an extra save. But it doesn’t matter how well Stu played last night, it wouldn’t have made any difference in the game, most likely. I’m not holding anything against Stu on that performance.”
It was the second time in the postseason that Skinner had been pulled in favor of Pickard. Skinner’s performance was extremely subpar in the opening pair of postseason games against the Kings, allowing a total of 11 goals in the first two games and seeing his starting position evaporate.
Eventually, Skinner would return to the Oilers’ net and earn redemption by shutting down both the Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars, two top Western Conference clubs with no shortage of offensive firepower, on Edmonton’s way to their second consecutive berth in the Stanley Cup Final.
Meanwhile, Pickard had earned victories in all six of the starts that he made while Skinner sat on the bench. It will be a key decision for Knoblauch to make, and understandably, it will come with no shortage of second-guessing if it ultimately turns out to be the wrong call and the Oilers return home in must-win mode.