Mike wrote on Tue, 17 December 2024 07:17

NetBOG wrote on Tue, 17 December 2024 09:34 Mike wrote on Tue, 17 December 2024 06:29 tardigrade81 wrote on Tue, 17 December 2024 08:30 If Skinner players like that in the playoffs we will make a quick exit Skinner will play like that. He's a pretty good backup goalie IMO, but I don't believe he can be counted on to lead this team to 16 wins without needing to dig ourselves out of massive holes time after time. Even with is recent hot streak, he's still only at .892 and 2.98 for the year - nowhere closer to even middle of the pack let alone elite (32nd and 35th respectively) Any team with McDavid and Draisaitl will always have a chance. But it sure would be nice to not NEED them to set all time records just to get through a playoff round. A quick exit like six months ago? He’s streaky but has proven he can keep things in check when needed. Where did I say a quick exit? And "keep things in check when needed"? Agree to disagree I guess. You believe the only reason we got to game 7 of the finals is Stuart Skinner. I believe McDavid and Bouchard setting records, not to mention Draisaitl and Hyman, had a bit more to do with it.

How many Cup winning goalies get benched for a couple games in the second round? I can't really think of any.

Skinner has stretches where he seems like he could be that goalie, but the inconsistency is a killer, and when he's off, he can lose games on his own. He did almost single-handedly lose us the series against Vegas a couple years ago, and made the Vancouver series a very close call last year. He was great against Dallas, but he finished the playoffs at .901 Sv% last year, good for seventh among goalies playing at least 240 mins. He wasn't particularly close to the top-6 either. His career playoff save percentage is a woeful .894.

I was at the game last night and it felt like even when he was making stops that every shot, no matter how simple, had a chance of finding the back of the net. Bobrovsky was also bad last night but still made more saves.

The Oilers have been pretty good the last month, but it's not really goaltending that's getting us there - it's outscoring our issues and shot suppression.

Hopefully the team is paying attention and realizes that we need to AT LEAST have a better 1A solution if Skinner falters, because Calvin Pickard is at the tail end of a career where he's been a tweener or a back-up for the bulk of it, and he's not someone you can actually count on to take the ball and run with it and Stuart Skinner doesn't look like he will ever be a top goalie in the league.

I really don't want to be the Lindros-era Flyers, where every year we have a really good team that's felled by mediocre netminding.

"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
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