Stuart Skinner smashes his stick in frustration and leaves Oilers’ practice!

The Edmonton Oilers’ early-season woes continued with a 4-3 loss to the Dallas Stars on Thursday night. They are now 2-6-1 and currently sit in sixth place of the Pacific division. Only the Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks have worse records in the NHL. Edmonton is already 16 points behind division-leading Vegas Golden Knights, who won the Stanley Cup this summer and were the ones who eliminated the Oilers on their way to the top of the mountain. The Western Conference is pulling away from them…

In a year that was supposed to be “Cup or Bust”, fans are startling to wonder if the Oilers will even make the postseason, and they aren’t the only ones getting frustrated.

On Friday during practice, TSN’s Ryan Rishaug reported that goalie Stuart Skinner was visibly upset when he smashed his stick on the goal post in frustration and left the ice. It was clear if the session was even over as Rishaug pointed out that there were still some drills happening.

The disappointing start to the season has been especially frustrating for Skinner, who stopped 23 of 27 shots last night. Skinner’s poor start to 2023-24 continued as he posted a .852 save percentage in the loss.

Last season, he was a Calder trophy finalist and posting a 29-14-5 record with a 2.75 GAA and a .914 save percentage, but Skinner has not been able to carry that momentum into this campaign… He currently has a 1-3-1 record with a 3.62 GAA and an .861 save percentage. Skinner could get a shot at challenging the frustration into motivation when the Oilers look to
bounce back from a 2-6-1 start to the season against the Nashville Predators in a matinee on Saturday in Edmonton.

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