Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner was pulled from Tuesday’s game against the Dallas Stars after allowing four goals on eight shots in the first period.
Jamie Benn opened the scoring for the Stars 3:48 into the first frame with his 400th career goal. Roope Hintz scored on the power play at 10:51 and Nathan Bastian made it 3-0 for the road team at 15:24. Sam Steel made it 4-0 when he got behind Skinner and swept a puck that had come off the crossbar into the empty net.
The 27-year-old Skinner finished with four saves in the first period before Calvin Pickard took over the net to start the second period. Pickard allowed four goals on 22 shots.
The Oilers players put the blame on themselves postgame, with the 8-3 loss dropping the team to 10-10-5 on the season.
“I really feel like goaltending is a team thing,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said after the loss. “It’s tough for goalies to look good when the group in front of them is not playing well. I don’t really care who it is, when the team in front of them is not playing up to their standards, then it is tough for a goalie to look good. I felt bad for both of them.
“We’ve still got lots of confidence. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but there’s still an overarching belief that we’ll figure it out. Obviously, doesn’t look that way now, but at least I still feel it.”
“I don’t really have an answer right now. It’s just really, start to finish, not good enough,” Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl said. “It’s very concerning. Everything is very concerning. We’re nearly 30 games in and still don’t seem to have it down or know what we are.
“I don’t really know what to say, it’s just not good enough right now.”
Skinner has appeared in 17 games this season and has an 8-6-3 record with an .878 save percentage and a 3.00 goals-against average.
Pickard, 33, is 2-3-2 this season with an .847 save percentage and a 4.04 GAA.