Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals marked Stuart Skinner’s first loss in six games as he let in five goals. But coach Kris Knoblauch’s confidence in the goalie remained intact. “Stu’s game has been really good, and we’ll need him to continue to do that for us to have an opportunity to win,” he said, and gave Skinner his 11th consecutive start.

However, Skinner’s performance was far from ideal in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Having let in 5 goals on the 23 shots he faced, he forced Knoblauch to take him off and replace him with Calvin Pickard. And while this meant another round of post-game fan backlash for Skinner, some fans had started side-eyeing him even before the puck dropped at the Amerant Bank Arena, thanks to his strange pre-game habit.

“Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner barely ties his skates, per @Panger40 🤯,” read a post on the B/R Open Ice X page. Interestingly enough, this is not the only game-day habit that the goalie has come to be known for. Let’s not forget how his warm-up routine before games includes standing in the standard goalie stance for a considerable period of time, locked in, doing nothing else but making visible yet subtle movements that make you think he is a character in a video game waiting for you to press one of the arrow keys. And when this news about the laces dropped, fans wasted no time sweeping in with their digs. 

However, what concerns them even more is that Skinner’s postseason form has been a rollercoaster. Despite delivering some stellar performances, including three shutouts, during these playoffs, his latest showing in Game 2 against the Panthers reignited the debate. Even in the recent game, it took Brad Marchand just 56 seconds to get past him. Soon after, the rest of the Panthers squad followed up to conquer the game. So yeah, the digs on Skinner’s no-laces policy were laced with (Come on, it was right there) criticism of his on-ice performance.

NHL fans blamed Stuart Skinner for the Oilers’ poor performance!

Fans are not a big fan of Skinner barely tying his skates to pulling off strange warmup moves. And now with the loss to the Panthers, their emotions turned into anger. “Maybe that’s why he can’t save a puck,” one fan commented. “We can tell,” wrote another fan, as if they found the actual reason behind the goalie’s topsy-turvy performances and Edmonton’s losses.

But then someone just predicted something before the match. “I know Bennett gonna tie them hard asf when falls on him today,” wrote the fan, referring to how Sam Bennett collided with Skinner in Game 2. And right after the game began and the Panthers led the game, thanks to Marchand’s goal, one fan didn’t waste any time to add, “That why he couldn’t stop that muffin of a shot by Marchand.” This sounded like pure frustration!

And noting everything, one could draw a possible conclusion for the goalie. They wrote, “Makes sense why he falls over so much now.” Whether it’s his lack of reliability at the moment or these weird habits, fans are clearly disappointed. Guess he might just have to lace up (literally and figuratively) if he wants to get back to winning ways again.