DETROIT — A mustachioed Stuart Skinner was calm and cool while accurately assessing his performance. He handled his postgame responses Tuesday with the same ease he’d had in turning aside shots throughout the three periods beforehand.
Skinner was pleased with the way he played — and justifiably so. He was the main reason the Oilers hung with the Red Wings. They ultimately fell 4-2, but Skinner was unequivocally Edmonton’s best player — ranking fifth overall among both teams with a 1.61 game score.
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“I felt like I belonged,” Skinner said. “That’s huge for me.”
For a 23-year-old AHL call-up making his second career NHL start, showing he belongs is what mattered. His only blemish was when he gift-wrapped an easy goal to Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin in the second period, to put the Oilers down 3-0. The goal stood as the winner.
“I just fanned on it. Hard fan. Bad timing,” he said. “If that didn’t happen, we’d potentially still be playing.”
Watching the game on the west coast, Bakersfield Condors goalie coach Sylvain Rodrigue felt his heart sink at that goal. He didn’t want one blunder to tarnish an excellent showing that was the culmination of years of hard work.
“That goal is really unlucky,” Rodrigue said. “He would make that play probably 99 times out of 100.
“It’s been a long, long process. And I’m so happy to see him there. I was probably as nervous as he was because you want your kid to perform and succeed.”
Skinner is now in the early stages of his fourth professional season. Rodrigue has been one of his mentors, along with Oilers netminding coach Dustin Schwartz, and has seen Skinner improve drastically over that time.
Rodrigue felt Skinner’s WHL career before coming to Bakersfield was filled with inconsistencies. Skinner backstopped some lousy Lethbridge Hurricanes teams from the time he was 15, a rare feat in major junior. He’d look like an all-star some nights. Others, not so much.
Skinner was then the backbone of the 2017-18 Swift Current Broncos, who won the league title. He then moved on to the Oilers system, where a rude reality awaited him.
With Shane Starrett and Dylan Wells ahead of him on the depth chart early in his rookie AHL campaign, Skinner became the No. 3 goalie. He and Wells would rotate monthly stints in ECHL Wichita, so they could get some playing time there rather than backing up Starrett in Bakersfield.
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“He was lost a little bit,” Rodrigue said.
The coaching staff was never sure how he’d fare on a nightly basis.
“We’d have one Stuey — and the other one,” Rodrigue said.
During one of his recalls to Southern California, Skinner asked Rodrigue what it would take for him to work his way up the depth chart and become the starter in Bakersfield. Rodrigue’s response was to always be ready to take advantage of an opportunity.
They worked together to develop sound practice and pregame routines and build up Skinner’s confidence so he could perform more capably. The young goalie had to learn how to be a pro.
“Mental preparation is so important for a goalie,” Skinner said.
The Condors turned to Skinner in the 2019 AHL playoffs when Starrett sustained an injury. Skinner turned made 46 saves in a 2-1 double-overtime win in his first professional postseason start.
Of course, development often isn’t a straight line.
Skinner and the Condors struggled the following season amid injuries and underperformance. Skinner posted a .892 save percentage in 41 appearances before the pandemic halted the campaign.
“Stuey did well, but he went through a tough time going through those ups and downs over the season,” Rodrigue said. “He was going as number one, but it was not supposed to be like that. He found a way to handle it.”
Skinner rebounded nicely last season, posting a save percentage of .914 in 31 outings and backstopping the Condors to a Pacific Division crown. That came after his first extended NHL stint — nearly a month — and his first big-league start.
“Last year, after his month in Edmonton, we could see the growth of Stuey,” Rodrigue said, noting Skinner’s preparation and practice habits were much better.
Now, Skinner felt more equipped when the Oilers needed him this time around.
Skinner was the losing goalie in NHL start No. 2 on Tuesday, even though he stopped 31 of the 34 pucks fired at him.
He was much more pleased with his outing than his debut last season, in which he surrendered five goals on 38 shots on Jan. 31, though the Oilers did beat Ottawa in the game.
“I just played better,” he said. “I also think both teams just played hard defensively.”
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Back then, he’d been around the Oilers through training camp, there were no preseason games in the schedule, and then he waited around until the team’s 11th game before he got to play.
This fall, Skinner appeared in four preseason games in Edmonton and then started Bakersfield’s first two games before getting the call to the big club on Oct. 20, the day after Mike Smith sustained a lower-body injury against Anaheim.
“I felt much better on this one,” Skinner said. “I just did what I normally do.
“I’ve been preparing for this for quite some time now. I felt like I was game-ready.”
Skinner had to make several big saves starting from the game’s second minute, when Detroit’s third line of Givani Smith, Michael Rasmussen and Adam Erne stormed the crease, leading to a scramble.
He faced point-blank chances from Robby Fabbri, Erne and Nick Leddy before the intermission.
“There were a lot of pucks coming at him in the first period,” head coach Dave Tippett said.
Skinner stoned Tyler Bertuzzi, Lucas Raymond and Fabbri in the second.
The difference in quality between the first two starts for the 6-foot-4, 204-pound goalie was pronounced.
“Totally. He was giving me confidence,” Rodrigue said. “He looked big in the net, he was square, and he was not giving up juicy rebounds.
“It was fun to watch him.”
Vladislav Namestnikov beat him twice over the first two frames.
The first goal came after Oilers blueliner Slater Koekkoek turned the puck over in the offensive zone causing a rush. Namestnikov walked around Tyson Barrie and beat Skinner. The second one saw a point shot hit Namestnikov in front, and he noticed the loose puck quicker than Skinner or defenceman Evan Bouchard.
“I feel like I always have a chance on any goal,” Skinner said.
Then there was the gaffe. Skinner had full control of the puck and banked it off the boards rather than sending it around them. Larkin grabbed the failed attempt and stuffed it in the open net.
Stuart Skinner with an oopsie leads to a Dylan Larkin goal 😬 pic.twitter.com/jzeR3DA1c6
— Hockey Night in Canada (@hockeynight) November 10, 2021
“He played well. Nobody can say (otherwise) except for that goal,” Rodrigue said. “He has to be just a little bit sharper.
“You’re not allowed to make mistakes at that level. And when you’re making a mistake, you’re paying for it. That’s what happened. I’m feeling bad for it.”
“He made a mistake there,” captain Connor McDavid said, “but everybody makes mistakes.”
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The Oilers got goals from Jesse Puljujarvi and McDavid but couldn’t find the equalizer before Moritz Seider scored with Skinner on the bench with six seconds left in regulation.
Skinner attributed that mishap as the determining factor why the Oilers lost. Maybe so. But the truth is they wouldn’t have had much hope without his goaltending. Tippett said the team deserved what it got in being down 3-0.
“He battled hard,” McDavid said. “We definitely didn’t make it easy on him in front of him.”
Skinner made two big stops early in the third period after McDavid’s goal, one on Filip Zadina and the other on Filip Hronek, to keep the Oilers within one successful shot of tying the game.
“He made enough saves to give us a chance to win,” Tippett said.
Rodrigue felt that way, too.
Perhaps Skinner is giving himself a chance to take the next step in his career, too. That’s a potentially important development considering Skinner needs a new contract after this season and is waivers eligible next fall.
“Playing my first game, I was a little shaky,” Skinner said. “After this game, I feel a lot better about my game.”
Patience and guidance have been key building blocks in the approach with the young goalie. Tuesday, aside from the third goal against, was the payoff.
“I’m looking at tonight and, Stu, he looks way better than last year,” Rodrigue said.
(Top photo: Dave Reginek / NHLI via Getty Images)
