Skinner to start Game 5 for Oilers; Kane absent from gameday skate
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After being pulled in Game 4, Stuart Skinner will be back in net for the Edmonton Oilers in Game 5 against the Los Angeles Kings Tuesday.
Skinner worked in the starter's net during Tuesday's gameday skate and stated he would start afterwards.
Forward Evander Kane was absent from the skate for Edmonton. The 31-year-old has two goals and an assist in four games against the Los Angeles Kings in the first-round series. He logged 24:32 of ice time in Edmonton's Game 4 overtime win.
Skinner has started every game against the Kings, but was pulled in Game 4 after allowing three goals on 11 shots in the first period.
Veteran Jack Campbell steadied the net for the Oilers Sunday as the team erased a three-goal deficit to defeat the Kings 5-4 in overtime of Game 4.
The 31-year-old turned aside 27 of 28 shots faced in relief as the Oilers stormed back from 3-0 to force overtime and eventually tie the series at 2-2.
Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said the decision was made to pull Skinner to try to change the momentum after a slow start.
"We have a good goaltending tandem," Woodcroft said. "I have belief in both of our goaltenders. That's not assigning any blame on Stuart for the way the first period went, but I felt our team needed a little change in momentum and give us a different kind of look. The only debate I had was when I was going to do it. Were we going to try and get to the end of the period, or were we going to do it after that third goal? We decided to wait until we could get into the room. once we did that, we took off from there."
Skinner, who went 29-14-5 in the regular season with a .914 save percentage and a 2.75 GAA, is 1-2 in the postseason with a .881 save percentage and a 3.38 GAA.
Campbell joined the Oilers as free agent last summer on a five-year, $25 million contract after previously serving as the starter for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He went 21-9-4 in first season with the team with a .888 save percentage and a 3.41 goals-against average. He lost his starting role to Skinner late the season, making just five starts over the final six weeks of the season. Prior to Game 4, Campbell had last played on April 5.