The 2025 NHL postseason is definitely something Stuart Skinner would love to forget. Skinner’s .942 save percentage from the 2024-25 regular season dropped to a shambolic .889 in the playoffs. In Game 3 of Round 2 of the Western Conference, against the Vegas Golden Knights, the 26-year-old let the team down after returning to the ice following a six-game absence. In the series against the Cats, he was pulled mid-game twice. The fans were enraged.

In the championship series, the Edmonton Oilers’ goalie had to watch the Florida Panthers run away with the Lord Stanley Cup for a second year straight. The netminder’s wobbly postseason reminded many Edmonton loyalists of what had happened in 2024. “There was times where security had to be involved,” Stuart’s wife, Chloe Skinner, revealed about how difficult things got for the Oilers’ star’s family. After the team lost the season opener this year to the Flames, the sneers mounted. Thankfully, things might finally be changing.

The Edmonton Oilers took on the New York Rangers at the iconic Madison Square Garden on Tuesday and came out with flying colors. With a 2-0 victory, Kris Knoblauch’s boys are finally on a winning streak after dropping the first game of the 2025-26 season. The hero of the match? Stuart Skinner, who returned to his post after Calvin Pickard took over for the second game against the Canucks. A post by Bob Stauffer, the Oilers’ radio color commentator, on X from October 14 shared how Skinner’s performance looked good enough to put a lid on the haters’ comments.

“Stuart Skinner with a stellar start… steals one tonight for the @EdmontonOilers with a 30 saves for a shutout,” Stauffer was elated over how the goalie’s 8th career shutout played a crucial role in Edmonton’s “Mature road win” today. Granted, the Rangers have been only a shadow of their true selves in recent years, but still, shutting them down in their own backyard is a commendable feat, nonetheless.

For the Rangers, this was their third-straight defeat at home this season. In today’s game, Skinner thwarted 15 high-danger scoring chances and saved 3.53 goals above expectations. Obviously, his pals couldn’t be happier about his performance today, especially after the shaky start to the season. “Huge for us, huge for us all night. Obviously, there’s going to be breakdowns, there’s going to be moments where you got to make big saves, and he did that a handful of times for us tonight. So, very confident with him back there,” said the Oilers’ blueliner Darnell Nurse of the goalie’s resolute to hold the fort.

“I thought [Skinner] moved really well. There was definitely a lot of scoring chances against us, more than we would have liked to give up, but he played a really strong game. Not easy saves,” Coach Knoblauch, too, lauded Stuart for a job well done. The boss’s appreciative words weren’t unfounded. With today’s shutout, Skinner is now tied with Devan Dubnyk and Bill Ranford for the fifth-most shutouts in Edmonton’s history.

So, what might be the secret behind Skinner being able to search within to bring out the best in him?

A crucial decision might make the season better for Stuart Skinner

Starting Game 3 of Round 2 after a long absence from the postseason and being handed a loss was a tough pill to swallow for Skinner. “I had a lot of excitement. First game in a while, first game at home in the playoff. So the energy was really high. So yeah, it was nice to go back in there, not the result that we wanted obviously…Nobody really knows what’s going to be happening. We had no idea that they were going to score with .4 seconds left. You know, you can’t really expect too much,” Stuart said following Reilly Smith bringing the Golden Knights the victory with just 0.4 seconds left on the clock.

The troubles continued. In Game 3 vs the Panthers, Skinner let in 5 of 23 shots faced. Knoblauch finally decided to pull him in favor of Pickard with 16.33 still remaining of the match. In the following match of the championship series, Skinner once again allowed 3 goals in the first period, prompting the coach to once again resort to the backup goalie. Fans couldn’t make out what went wrong after such a great regular season campaign. Skinner probably knew the reason in his heart.

“I think I got back on the ice a little too quick last summer,” he confessed in August, referring to how he got back to preseason skating right after the Game 7 loss to the Panthers in 2024. This year, he started training on August 1. Could this be all the difference Stuart Skinner needs to turn things around? We’ll have to wait to see!