Edmonton sticks with Skinner in goal, juggles lines in bid to even series against Florida
© Eliot J. Schechter/NHLI
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Stuart Skinner has been dominant in Game 4s during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Edmonton Oilers are banking on their goalie to do that again in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC).
Florida leads the best-of-7 series 2-1.
Skinner is 6-0 with a 0.83 goals-against average, .970 save percentage and two shutouts in his past six Game 4s, including a 23-save 3-0 win against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 4 of the second round and a 28-save 4-1 win against the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final.
“I didn’t fully know the numbers, but for myself personally, I think as series go on I get better and better,” Skinner said. “As series go on I feel I start to get a little bit more of a rhythm and hopefully that continues.”
The Oilers are looking for a big response following a 6-1 loss in Game 3 on Monday, when Skinner allowed five goals on 23 shots and was pulled early in the third period.
He’s staying in net, but Edmonton is making several changes in front of him, including three new-look forward lines and three new defense pairs.
Up front, Jeff Skinner will make his Cup Final debut, replacing Viktor Arvidsson and starting on the third line with Adam Henrique and Trent Frederic. Skinner has played in two games in the playoffs and scored a goal in Game 5 against the Stars.
Connor Brown will move up from the third line to play with Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Corey Perry bumps off the first line to play with Mattias Janmark and Vasily Podkolzin on the fourth line. The second line of Evander Kane, Leon Draisaitl and Kasperi Kapanen remains intact.
On the back end, Troy Stecher will make his Cup Final debut, replacing John Klingberg, and will be paired with Darnell Nurse. Stecher has no points in six games this postseason.
Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard will be separated; Ekholm will be paired with Jake Walman and Bouchard with Brett Kulak.
“We have a lot of good players, a lot of good players who had been in and out of the lineup,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Some players haven’t even seen any game action so far in this series. Felt that we could use the change, have those guys come in, give us a boost. We’ve seen it throughout the playoffs where we’ve made alterations to our lineup and it’s benefited us.”
Florida is making no such changes after winning Game 3 going away and Game 2 on forward Brad Marchand‘s double-overtime goal in a 5-4 victory.
But the Panthers are not underestimating their foes based off one blowout win.
“Usually you get teams’ best after that,” Marchand said. “I think especially with the players they have in the room, how competitive they are, they’re going to look to bounce back. When you have that kind of leadership, they normally lead the way, those top guys. That’s a dangerous combination. We have to make sure that we bring our best.”
The Panthers, historically, find themselves in a favorable position after taking two of the first three games.
This marks the 11th time a defending champion has taken a 2-1 lead in the Stanley Cup Final. Nine of the previous 10 defending champs have gone on to win the series, with the lone exception being the 2009 Detroit Red Wings, who lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins in seven games.
Teams that hold a 2-1 lead in a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Final have gone on to win the series 80.4 percent of the time (45-11).
“I don’t think you feel it two wins away,” Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “I think you feel it the morning you have a chance. We spoke about that last year and how it became normal to have a chance to win on that day. There’s a lot of experience here and in that room with that opportunity, with that chance to win, so everybody will be a lot more comfortable in these situations on both sides.”
Dan Rosen, Tracey Myers and Amalie Benjamin preview Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final
Here is a breakdown of Game 4:
Oilers: All the changes could make a difference, but Edmonton obviously needs Draisaitl and McDavid to impact the game after each was held off the scoresheet in Game 3; McDavid had two shots on goal and Draisaitl did not have a shot attempt. It’s even bigger for the Oilers to keep their composure, which they didn’t Monday after doing a good job of that in Games 1 and 2 at home; it might have been an effect of the score, with the Panthers leading 5-1 early in the third period. The start in Game 4 is important for Edmonton to find its footing again in the series after two straight defeats.
Panthers: Marchand and center Sam Bennett each carries a goal-scoring streak into Game 4; each has four goals in the series, including at least one in each game. They are the second set of teammates in NHL history to open a Stanley Cup Final with a goal streak of at least three games, joining Steve Payne and Dino Ciccarelli, who did it with the Minnesota North Stars in 1981. Bennett has goals in four straight games dating to Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes, and leads all scorers with 14 goals this postseason. Marchand is second on the Panthers with eight goals and tied for third with 18 points. Florida is 4-1 at home against Edmonton in the Stanley Cup Final dating to last year, when they won three of four games. The Panthers have outscored the Oilers 18-8 in their five home games against Edmonton in the Cup Final, including 12-7 last year.
Number to know: Seven. The Panthers and Oilers have an opportunity to become the third set of teams in NHL history, and first since 1980, to combine to score at least seven goals in the first four games of a Stanley Cup Final. In 1980, the New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers combined for at least seven goals in all six games they played. In 1918, the Toronto Arenas and Vancouver Millionaires combined for at least eight goals in the first four games before Toronto won Game 5, 2-1. Florida and Edmonton combined for seven goals in Game 1, nine in Game 2 and seven in Game 3.
What to look for: Discipline might be the biggest key for the Oilers to even the series and make it a best-of-3 before they return to Edmonton for Game 5 on Saturday. Before Game 3 got out of hand in the third period, each team was called for four penalties in the first period, but the Oilers were guilty of two stick infractions in the offensive zone (each by Kane), a too many men on the ice penalty and a goalie interference call on Arvidsson; those are all somewhat avoidable. Draisaitl said the Oilers should be striving to play more of a tight checking game and way more 5-on-5 unless the Panthers are guilty of penalties to put them on the power play. Florida will be content to play that game as long as its keep pressuring all over the ice.
“I don’t really see too much reason to panic quite, quite yet. I think it’s a good opportunity for me to come back. Obviously, we lost two in a row, and I’m good in these situations. I know how to bounce back. I know how to play well, so it’s just getting back to that.” – Stuart Skinner
“Just hit the reset. Reset again. It’s a new game, new opportunity for both teams. We’ll just need to stick with our game.” — Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins — Connor McDavid — Connor Brown
Evander Kane — Leon Draisaitl — Kasperi Kapanen
Jeff Skinner — Adam Henrique — Trent Frederic
Vasily Podkolzin — Mattias Janmark — Corey Perry
Brett Kulak — Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse — Troy Stetcher
Mattias Ekholm — Jake Walman
Stuart Skinner
Calvin Pickard
Scratched: Viktor Arvidsson, John Klingberg, Joshua Brown, Cam Dineen, Ty Emberson, Max Jones, Derek Ryan
Injured: Zach Hyman (dislocated wrist)
Carter Verhaeghe — Aleksander Barkov — Sam Reinhart
Evan Rodrigues — Sam Bennett — Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen — Anton Lundell — Brad Marchand
A.J. Greer — Tomas Nosek — Jonah Gadjovich
Gustav Forsling — Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola — Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt — Dmitry Kulikov
Sergei Bobrovsky
Vitek Vanecek
Scratched: Jesper Boqvist, Uvis Balinskis, Jaycob Megna, Mackie Samoskevich, Nico Sturm, Evan Cormier
Injured: None
Status report
Stuart Skinner will make his fourth straight start in the Final after leaving in the third period of a 6-1 loss in Game 3 on Monday. … The Panthers will make no changes to their lineup.
NHL.com independent correspondent George Richards contributed to this report
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