Stuart Skinner’s turnaround has been crucial for the Edmonton Oilers

As the Edmonton Oilers get ready for their first Stanley Cup Final appearance in 18 years, it is hard not to look at one of the reasons the team has made it to this point, regardless of how surprising it might sound.

While the Oilers have the obvious superstars in Leon Draisaitl and captain Connor McDavid, along with other scoring threats like Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, goaltender Stuart Skinner was a game-changer for Edmonton in these playoffs, especially in the last couple of rounds.

After getting the hook for a couple of games during the second round against the Vancouver Canucks, Skinner stepped up, making a few key saves in Game 7 against the Canucks. Then, in the Western Conference final against the Dallas Stars he was relied upon to come up clutch at crucial moments in games. In the series-clinching Game 6 win on Sunday, where the Oilers were outshot 34-10, Skinner was beaten just once in a 2-1 decision.

On Monday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss how vital Skinner was in helping the Oilers advance to the Final.

Frank Seravalli: You talk about down 2-1 [against the Stars]…they could’ve easily bowed out at that point. Getting to the conference finals, the Oilers were the only team standing that had pulled their goalie at any point during the postseason. Stuart Skinner, since the goalie pull and switch to Calvin Pickard, has a .920 save percentage in this postseason. He’s 6-2.

I said last week on the show that if Skinner could get his playoff save percentage up to .900 for the playoffs, because it was down to .793 at some point, that the Oilers would be playing for a Stanley Cup. Well, they’re playing for the Stanley Cup, he only got to .897 though. Considering where it was at, that is pretty remarkable.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…