Despite the Florida Panthers having all the momentum, the Oilers still managed to pull off an exceptional OT win in Game 4 to tie the series once again. But once again, for Stuart Skinner, it wasn’t the best night at the office on Thursday. Despite making 14 saves in the first period, Edmonton Coach Kris Knoblauch didn’t hesitate to pull Skinner before the second. And while Kris Knoblauch‘s doubts with Skinner have been quite apparent, Paul Maurice has been quite impressed with what he has seen from the netminders in the series.

“It’s unfortunate for Stu to be pulled there,” admitted Knoblauch after Game 4, but claimed that he had no choice but to shake things up as the team largely looked “flat” before. Moreover, he left some serious room for speculation as he refused to confirm if Skinner would start Game 5 as the Finals action returns to Edmonton. However, if it were left to Paul Maurice, he probably would have been more supportive of Skinner.

In a YouTube upload by FloridaHockeyNow from June 13, Coach Maurice could be heard noting his admiration for the Panthers’ and the Oilers’ netminders. On being asked if he felt that the two teams’ goalies have been better in the playoffs than in the regular season, Paul instead came up with a question of his own: “I’m not asking if I’m right, but does it not feel like that to you?”

“Sergei made some big saves last night. So did Skinner in the games…The goaltending has been right on,” Paul Maurice further clarified that in his eyes, both Sergei Bobrovsky and Stuart Skinner are top-tier players. For Maurice, a 5-4 result might have been disappointing in a regular-season game, but this is the Final, and both teams are as hungry as they come.

“You look at a regular season when it’s a 5-4 game, you’re not very happy,” Paul Maurice said, “I don’t think anybody’s cheating the game out there right. There’s nobody being lazy on the back check. They’re just two really powerful offensive teams.” Paul Maurice’s boys outshot the visitors 17-7 in the first period, showcasing their eagerness to make the most of their third straight trip to the Finals. Meanwhile, the first of the three goals that Skinner conceded in the first period off an avoidable 5-on-3 power-play situation thanks to carelessness on the part of Evander Kane and Darnell Nurse.

With 14 postseason games to his name this season, Skinner has 7 wins to his name, a 2.99 GAA, .891 save%, and 3 shutouts. These numbers, while not spectacular by any means, aren’t exactly the worst either. And let’s not forget the double save he pulled off less than 2 minutes into Game 4. “I felt for [Skinner] today,” even Pickard, who saved 22 out of the 23 shots he faced after replacing Skinner, admitted post-game. But then again, he is far from the only Oiler who has had Skinner’s back this postseason.

Paul Maurice’s admiration for Skinner is shared by others

Even after the shambolic 6-1 defeat to the Panthers in Game 3, the Oilers’ captain, Connor McDavid, wasn’t ready to let his goalie take the fall. Despite Skinner himself claiming that he did a poor job at holding the fort against the defending champs, McDavid told reporters after Monday’s defeat, “I don’t know about that, you know. Can we be better on the first one? Maybe just a little bit of a scramble — they get it, we don’t. Sure, we can be better, harder in front of him there.”

Before the Oilers lost Game 2 to the Panthers, Skinner was on a five-game winning streak with the Oilers. “Does he have a bad night every once in a while? Yes. I have a bad night. Connor has a bad night. Every player has a bad night,” Leon Draisaitl told the media a week ago. “The one thing about Stuey that I’ve always really admired is his ability to bounce back. He’s always, always, always a goalie that when he has an off night, you know his next game is going to be good,” he added.

Draisaitl is not wrong here. Skinner had lost the first three of his postseason games, but he came back to register two back-to-back shutouts against the Vegas Golden Knights that helped the Oilers clinch the second round in five games. There’s definitely no reason to rule out something similar from him in what’s left of the series either. However, for that to happen, Knoblauch will have to stick with him.