For years, goaltending has prevented the Edmonton Oilers from having a real chance at the Stanley Cup. Now, Stuart Skinner has the chance to erase all of that past and become a legend.
In his playoff career to this point, Skinner has become part of that lineage of goaltending failure in Edmonton, but the problem extends far beyond the young Canadian.
Other goalies have done the Oilers in in the McDavid and Draisaitl era, with Mike Smith chief among the culprits. Goaltending hasn't killed the Oilers so far this year, as they are in the Western Conference Finals for the second time in three years.
RELATED ARTICLE: Dallas defenseman Miro Heiskanen Looking for Title to Cement His Super-Elite Status
Can Stuart Skinner Become an Oilers Legend?
Things looked bleak for Edmonton in the second round. After defeating the Los Angeles Kings fairly easily in the first round, Skinner's struggles put the Oilers behind 2-1 in the series against the Vancouver Canucks.
Many assumed a change in net wasn't in the cards because the Oilers lacked another viable NHL option, but Edmonton made a change anyway, going to rarely used veteran journeyman Calvin Pickard for Game 4.
Pickard won them the game, and it seemed like it might have been the beginning of the end for Skinner in Edmonton. Getting pulled for such a non-factor and then watching him get the job done felt like too much to come back from.
But Pickard couldn't replicate his magic in Game 5, and Skinner came back and won Games 6 and 7 for the Oilers, vanquishing the Canucks and averting a massive postseason disappointment for a team in desperate need of a deep run.
Now, despite the fact that he's struggled in this run to the tune of a .881 save percentage so far in this run, Skinner has momentum and a clean slate against a Dallas Stars team that has the Oilers overmatched on paper.
In the net, too, it would be unanimous among experts that Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger is the far better option to Skinner in this series.
All of that might not matter. We have seen goaltenders go on unforeseen runs in the playoffs before, even if it didn't mean they were going to be elite forever. Matt Murray did it twice in Pittsburgh. Adin Hill did it in Vegas last year.
It can be done. Skinner has the talent to do it, even if he's never shown the consistency to excel as a starter over a full 82-game season.
Any goalie that does this immediately becomes a forever legend for that franchise. It's hard, though, to imagine a team and a goalie for whom it would mean more than this long-suffering Oilers fan base, this core that desperately needs a ring to secure their legacies, and this goalie who has shown flashes in his career but has mostly failed to live up to the promise he showed as a prospect.
All of the pieces are in place for a storybook ending. Let's see if Skinner can steal another series or two and get it done.
READ MORE: Oilers Pepper Canucks, Win Game 7 Thanks to Strong Depth Play
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.