The Edmonton Oilers’ goalie, Stuart Skinner, will have another chance to prove his worth in the fourth game of the Stanley Cup final. The Oilers, who are down 2-1 against the Florida Panthers, have decided to start Skinner for the crucial game on Thursday night. Skinner was substituted in the third period of the third game after allowing five goals on 23 shots, in a 6-1 loss.
Despite speculation about the possibility of backup goalie Calvin Pickard taking his place, Skinner showed confidence in getting the starting position. “I feel like I’m going to be on the team. I don’t see many reasons to panic yet. We’ve lost two games in a row. I’m good in these situations. I know how to bounce back,” Skinner said.
I am good in these situations. I know how to recover. Skinner has an impeccable record in the fourth games, with a 6-0 record, an average of 1.26 goals against and a .955 save percentage, including two shutouts. In last season’s Stanley Cup final, Skinner limited the Panthers to a single goal in the fourth game, which boosted Edmonton’s comeback to force a seventh game. Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch highlighted Skinner’s improvement as the series progresses: “That’s how well he’s played in the second half of a series. That’s for every series this year and last year. This is a guy who is going to keep getting better as this series goes on. Hopefully we have a few more games where he can perform really well.” Knoblauch also made some lineup changes for Game 4. Jeff Skinner will come in for Viktor Arvidsson. Defenseman Troy Stecher replaces John Klingberg, who had a minus-3 rating in Game 3. In addition, the Oilers will move Connor Brown up to their first line to play alongside star center Connor McDavid and winger Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “He’s a guy who’s playing really well,” McDavid said of Brown, who has five goals and three assists in 17 playoff games. “He skates well with the puck and is a confident guy who can play up and down the lineup.” Brown will try to boost McDavid, after an unusual performance for the superstar. Game three marked only the thirteenth time in their playoff history together that both McDavid and Leon Draisaitl went scoreless. According to the Oilers, one of the reasons was how disjointed the game was from a penalty perspective. Game 3 had the fourth-most penalty minutes (140) for any Stanley Cup Final game in NHL history. The Panthers, who do not expect to make any changes to their lineup, anticipate that the fourth game will be played very differently. Florida defenseman Seth Jones expects that “both teams will probably want to be a little more disciplined” on Thursday night. Florida coach Paul Maurice expects the same, but said it’s less about the third-game antics and more about this series nearing its end. “There are four games left in this series. As you get closer to game seven, discipline becomes a more and more critical factor,” he said. “I think this is going to be the fastest and most disciplined game played by both teams. It will have nothing to do with the way [game three] ended. It will have to do with it being game four.” The fourth game between the Panthers and the Oilers is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.
