Oilers G Skinner calls himself out after latest loss
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Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner pointed the blame at himself as the team's losing streak was extended to three games on Monday with a 6-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks.
The loss dropped the Oilers to 2-8-1 on the season, with Skinner owning a 1-4-1 record with a .856 save percentage and a 3.99 goals-against average.
“I think I can do a lot better to help my team out,” Skinner said. “I’m the goalie. My job is to stop the puck. I let in six. That’s not a good recipe to win games.”
The Oilers outshot the Canucks 20-8 in the first period and grabbed an early lead with a power-play goal from Mattias Ekholm. Edmonton, however, trailed at the first intermission after the Canucks scored three goals in less than three and a half minutes in the second half of the period.
“Right now, it just feels like whatever we do, the last two or three games we’ve had great starts, and for whatever reason, we find ourselves in a deficit going into the intermission,” Ekholm said. “It’s frustrating. I don’t know if you can play a better 15 minutes."
Through 11 games, the Oilers are allowing an average of 4.27 goals against per game – the second-worst mark in the league behind only the winless San Jose Sharks (4.91). Offence has also been hard to come by for Edmonton, with the team averaging just 2.64 goals per game - the seventh-lowest mark in the NHL.
“Obviously frustrating,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said after the team's latest loss. “I felt like we did a lot of good things in the first period and found ourselves down and chasing things.”
Skinner, 25, has split playing time with Jack Campbell this season. Campbell, 31, also has just one win one along with four losses, posting a .873 save percentage and a 4.50 GAA.
UPDATE: The Oilers place Campbell on waivers Tuesday.
“Our goaltenders wear the same jerseys as the rest of the team,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said of criticism directed at the netminders. “Are there moments that our goaltenders can be better? Yeah, there are.”
The Oilers will visit the Sharks on Thursday in a battle of the NHL's two worst teams this season.