DENVER — It may be too late for Stuart Skinner, but in his final audition for Team Canada, he was brilliant.
His spot on Canada’s roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off may already have swirled down the drain, but after a 4-1 win at Colorado — where Skinner was nearly perfect — he’s got a little secret for you.
He wasn’t spending much time thinking about hearing his name called on Dec. 4 as one of three Team Canada goalies, with the rosters being set on Monday — before Skinner presumably gets his next start in Vegas Tuesday night.
“That’s a difficult question for me to answer, because I’m not thinking about (Team Canada), playing against (Nate) MacKinnon, (Cale) Makar, and all the guys in their lineup,” he said, after a sometimes brilliant, always steady 27-save performance. “I mostly played well for the Oilers.
“Sorry, that’s all I’ve got for you.”
It’s always been a chicken or egg situation with Skinner, a young ‘tender at 26 years old in just his third full NHL season.
He’s not often the goalie who steals two points for a team that’s playing poorly in front of him. But he’s consistently been a ‘tendy who rewards proper defensive structure with the saves he’s supposed to make, and the odd few that he’s not.
Like when he stoned MacKinnon on a one-timer as Colorado forged one last rally late in the game. Or the leather he flashed on MacKinnon in the second period Saturday, catching a laser through traffic that MacKinnon had labelled for the top shelf.
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“The only reason I flashed it was because I didn’t really see much,” Skinner smiled. “It was a really nice play by him: He stickhandled probably 100 times within that second, faked a pass, and then a super quick release.
“It was kind of just a reflex save on my part, and a really nice play by him. I was just able to get the better end of it.”
It was Edmonton’s third straight victory, and the second in as many nights after a 4-3 OT win at Utah Friday. They allowed the first goal of the game — a Nikolai Kovalenko power-play goal seven minutes in — but then chipped away with goals in every period against the vaunted Avs, whose injury-riddled lineup left them without the horses to pull away.
Edmonton won 70 per cent of the faceoffs, killed the final four Avalanche power plays, and won the net front at both ends, cashing on a long Brett Kulak blast through traffic and a net front deflection by Vasily Podkolzin for his third goal in as many games.
“That’s a really good team in a hard building to win in,” said defenceman Darnell Nurse, who was outstanding. “It was hard fought by us, and obviously one of our better games. We put together a full 60 minutes.
“We played a really good, strong game. Controlled the centre of the ice.”
Nurse knows a thing or two about being criticized by Oilers fans, and he’s seen the fallout for Skinner after a poor start for the team and a similarly shaky one for Skinner. Some geniuses out there even found fault in the Avs’ lone goal Saturday, a power-play one-timer off a cross-ice pass that Skinner managed to get 90 per cent of before it crawled over the line.
Every goal is saveable, to some folks. Remember people, the other team is trying too.
“Sometimes when you’re criticized, or you’re under the microscope a little bit, you’ve got to just continue to have that confidence in yourself. Just believe in yourself,” instructed Nurse. “Either you turn (the outside noise) off, or you use it as fuel. One or the other.
“Sometimes it’s good to get away from it, and sometimes it’s good to read what everyone says, light a fire, and then you get to see (the writers) the next day,” Nurse smiled. “We believe in him. With the amount of good hockey he’s played for us, some huge moments over the course of the last few years, he’s one of the best goalies, we believe, around.”
Skinner’s .887 save percentage this season may make the decision for the Team Canada coaches. But he’s at .899 over his past five starts, and was .964 Saturday night in Denver.
It’s not about how a goalie is playing in October and November behind a sleepy club enduring a Stanley Cup Final hangover. It’s about how Skinner plays in February.
And remember, from Dec. 1 to the end of the season, he had a .914 save percentage that was fifth best in the NHL — and best among Canadian goalers.
“If I’m pickin’, he’s on that team,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch.
He’s breathing easier as all those awesome analytics start reverting to real goals and wins as the second quarter of the NHL season arrives. And Knoblauch sees in Skinner the guy he rode to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final last spring, a welcome sight for a coach who wants another crack at Stanley.
“The second half (of the season) to the playoffs,” Knoblauch said. “When he came back in the second half of the series against Vancouver, the series against Dallas, he was outstanding. The Florida series…
“There are the elite goalies who have been winning trophies, awards and stuff like that. I think he’s right below that,” Knoblauch said. “He’s a darned good goaltender.”
OIL SPILLS — Edmonton has points in seven of their last eight road games, going 6-1-1 in that span … With 16 goals from its blue line, the Oilers were tied for the NHL lead with goals from defencemen heading into the game. Cale Makar, of course, leads all NHL D-men in points with 32 … Colorado entered the game with the third highest goals allowed per game (3.71) in the NHL, a sign that the goaltending has been poor, and the defensive play loose in Denver so far. Only Pittsburgh has allowed more four-goal games against this season than the Avs’ 14 … With multi-point games in seven of his last 10 games, McDavid (0-1-1 tonight) has crept up to 11th in the scoring race. He is one game-winner away from tying Glenn Anderson with 72 game-winners, tops in Oilers history …With 14 of his 17 goals at even strength this season, Draisaitl leads the league in that category.