Stuart Skinner had faith in himself, if others didn’t.
The goaltender’s first win of this year’s NHL playoffs was a 3-0 shutout Monday for the Edmonton Oilers, who take a 3-1 lead in their second-round series against the Golden Knights to Las Vegas with a chance to close it out Wednesday.
Skinner’s 23 saves were an integral piece of Edmonton’s most complete game of the post-season.
“It felt great,” Skinner said. “All I can really say is thanks to the guys playing in front of me. They were amazing tonight. Made my job a lot easier.
“They were battling, a lot of blocked shots. The way that we played defensively was superb.”
It was Skinner’s second start after a performance-induced hiatus in the playoffs.
The 26-year-old from Edmonton was pulled in the second game of the first-round series when the Los Angeles Kings had scored 11 goals on him over five and a half periods.
Calvin Pickard and the Oilers won six in a row before Pickard was injured in Game 2 in Las Vegas, where Tomas Hertl landed on his left leg in the third period.
Pickard hasn’t been seen on the ice since and thus doesn’t seem close to a return soon. Much of the Oilers’ playoff fortunes will ride on their regular-season starter for the foreseeable future.
The Oilers were 6-0 with Pickard and 0-3 with Skinner heading into Monday’s game.
“Numbers don’t really matter, especially in playoffs,” Skinner said. “But the biggest thing is just trying to give your team a chance to win.
“If you let in five and it’s a 5-5 game going in OT, you’re giving your team a chance to win, so honestly, it doesn’t really bother me.”
Skinner made some important saves in Edmonton’s 4-3 loss in Game 3, but was the target of social-media criticism for his part in the Golden Knights’ winner scored with four-tenths of a second remaining.
“What outside noise?” Skinner asked Monday. “I have no idea. No clue what’s going on.”
He was in a similar situation last year when Pickard started a pair of games in a second-round series against the Vancouver Canucks, although it wasn’t a Pickard injury that returned him to Edmonton’s net.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch felt Skinner needed a reset, and it worked as Skinner returned to help Edmonton reach Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final that the Oilers lost 2-1 to the Florida Panthers. He went 14-9 in last year’s playoffs.
“I decided to play this position, so it’s completely my fault,” Skinner said.
“For me being in situations like this, I’ve been in them many times before. I’m going to be in them again. Just sticking to my process and just playing my game and doing my best out there.”
Oilers forward Adam Henrique saw the work Skinner put in during Pickard’s run and acknowledged the spotlight Skinner was under in his return to the net.
“It’s great to see him come out of that and just be him,” Henrique said.
“There’s pressure. We all face pressure, but to be a number one goalie in a market like this, it was probably extra pressure and it comes from all angles, I’m sure.
“To see him struggle, Picks goes in, plays great, and we get on a run, you’ve got to be ready. He did his job when he wasn’t playing.
“You just work on what you need to work on to be ready when you need be ready, and sure enough, comes along an injury, you’re right back in there.”
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Skinner was challenged early because the Golden Knights had three power-play chances in the first period. He stoned an all-alone Tomas Hertl at the end of their first.
Skinner was greeted and congratulated by Pickard in Edmonton’s dressing room after the game.
“It’s been an amazing ride with him for the last two years,” Skinner said.
“It takes a lot of character to show each other support, even though maybe the other guy’s not in the greatest situation and seeing that just shows everyone his character, how much he actually cares about me.
“It’s not fake, and same the other way around. There’s no facade there. It’s just two guys battling for each other and always supporting each other.”
