EDMONTON — Stuart Skinner couldn’t help but feel annoyed with what devolved in front of him.
For the first 20 minutes of Game 3, the Edmonton Oilers goaltender could have pulled the classic Ken Dryden waiting pose a few times. That’s how much the puck was in the offensive zone as his team overwhelmed the Dallas Stars.
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Within moments of the puck dropping for the second period, however, Skinner might as well have been mistaken for former California Golden Seal Gary Smith. He faced a plethora of Stars chances both in quality and quality and, try as he might, couldn’t withstand the barrage as part of a 5-3 loss that put the Stars ahead in the Western Conference final.
“It was a little bit frustrating. You knew that they were going to push back. These guys obviously want to make it to the finals,” Skinner said. “We just let off the gas a little bit. When they started rolling, they just kept rolling. Once they got momentum, we, as a whole unit, we were just watching them do their thing.
“We allowed them to do what they wanted for the majority of the second period.”
This loss might be remembered for the iffy winning goal Skinner surrendered to Jason Robertson, who caught the goalie off his post to round out his hat trick at 11:54 of the third period. It shouldn’t be.
Right after a huge stop by Skinner, this jam play by Jason Robertson gets through his RVH because he went skate on post rather than sealing with the boot of the pad (toe lock).
It’s a tiny detail, but these shooters are so good it’s the difference between a save and a goal. pic.twitter.com/FBsQOjree8
— Jesse Granger (@JesseGranger_) May 28, 2024
Though that decided the game and is one Skinner wants back — “That’s something that I’ve got to save,” he said — the Oilers’ ineffective play in front of him during the second was the turning point.
“It was a complete reversal of the first period,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We were just hoping things would just continue sailing the way it had in the first period. It caught us by surprise.
“We had the start that we needed, but we took our foot off the pedal.”
The Oilers looked like they were going to run the Stars out of the rink in the first period. Connor McDavid was the catalyst.
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The Oilers captain banked a shot off Zach Hyman and then knocked in a loose puck of his own before the game was eight minutes old. Those two points put him up to 25 in the playoffs and 100 for his career. It was his 64th postseason contest, making him the fourth fastest player to get to the century mark in NHL history behind Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and teammate Leon Draisaitl.
Had he scored later in the period instead of shooting wide, or if Darnell Nurse had finished off a backhand chance from the slot, the Stars’ spirits might have been broken.
“We’re trying to keep playing,” McDavid said. “We let one get away there.”
Instead, as Knoblauch noted, the Oilers acted as if the Stars had already packed it in. That was nowhere close to the case.
As good as the Oilers were in the first period, the Stars were even better in the second.
They were all over the Oilers and scored three goals in a 3:33 span to take the lead just after the nine-minute mark. The Oilers didn’t even get their first shot on net until 12:49 when McDavid wristed a weak shot from the top of the circle that Stars goalie Jake Oettinger handled with ease.
“I’m not sure where those 10-15 minutes come from, but that’s as bad as it’s been throughout the playoffs,” McDavid said.
“You could definitely feel their urgency, their desperation, their level go up — and we just didn’t match it.”
It was Skinner who had to deal with it.
He’s had some rough moments in the postseason — the low point when he lost the net early in the Vancouver series. The Robertson goal — which completed a hat trick — wasn’t great, especially because it pushed the Stars ahead with a little more than eight minutes left in regulation.
This one isn’t on him, though.
He was overwhelmed by a Stars attack that came from all angles in the middle stanza. It came from the rush. It came all around the net, often in second and third chances because his teammates couldn’t clear bodies or the puck.
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“They pushed and we didn’t,” said veteran forward Adam Henrique, who returned to the lineup after a seven-game absence with a lower-body injury. “That’s it.”
Besides, the breakaway save Skinner made on Mason Marchment at 8:47 of the second kept the Oilers in it and allowed Henrique to get the Oilers back to level terms before the intermission.
“I don’t think he had much opportunity in the second period,” Knoblauch said. “He made that huge breakaway save.
“There are always goals that go in. It happens. I liked the saves that he made. He gave us a chance to win it.”
Skinner could have been better, but he was far from the problem in his one. There was a lot wrong with the Oilers.
They failed to score on their two power-play opportunities and have now gone 0-for-5 in the series.
The combination of Robertson’s winner and Miro Heiskanen’s empty net goal means they’ve been outscored 5-0 in the third. They haven’t scored in the third since Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Evander Kane found the net in Game 6 against Vancouver.
It’s hard to win with those pitfalls.
But it was the second period that really did them on Monday.
The way they let the Stars take over the game after building a lead was so reminiscent of Games 5 and 6 against the Vegas Golden Knights last year. The Golden Knights scored three goals in quick succession in the second period in both of those contests, leaving the Oilers spinning and their season crashing to a halt.
“That’s a long time ago,” Skinner said. “That has nothing to do with what happened today. We have a completely different team.
“Even though that it did happen (Monday), we stayed with it. We were able to get that third goal and tie it up 3-3. … If you think about it that way, it shows great resiliency, a great bounce back. That’s a really good look for our team.”
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Maybe so, but the Oilers have talked over and over about how they’re beyond stuff like this, how they’re better equipped to nip one bad moment in the bud before it festers into a far larger problem.
That’s not what happened in Game 3.
This isn’t the first time something like this has befallen the Oilers in these playoffs. They blew a 4-1 lead to the Canucks in the opener of that series with 23 minutes left. Of course, they rebounded to win the series.
But the Stars aren’t the Canucks.
So, it’s no wonder Skinner was so perturbed by what unfolded after the Oilers dominated early. And it’s no wonder his teammates feel the same way.
“Series are short. You only get a handful of games,” McDavid said. “I’m not going to say we gave it away. There were 40 minutes (left), and we were able to wrestle it back.
“But we just didn’t find a way again.”
(Photo: Andy Devlin / NHLI via Getty Images)
Daniel Nugent-Bowman is a staff writer who covers the Edmonton Oilers for The Athletic. Daniel has written about hockey for Sportsnet, The Hockey News, Yahoo Canada Sports and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. Follow Daniel on Twitter @DNBsports
