Oilers' Nurse: 'We've been hanging our goalie out to dry'

The Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse came to the defense of his team's goaltending tandem after it allowed six goals for the second time in its opening-round series against the Los Angeles Kings.

"No team in this league can give up the amount of Grade A's and high-danger chances that we've been giving up (and still win)," Nurse said. "We've been hanging our goalie out to dry."

The Oilers lost 6-2 on Wednesday to take a 2-0 series deficit back to Edmonton. Stuart Skinner allowed five goals on 28 shots, and Calvin Pickard let in the first shot he faced after entering the game in relief in the third period.

The Kings have controlled 56.39% of expected goals at even strength in the series, according to Natural Stat Trick.

"I don't think there's been any bad goals," head coach Kris Knoblauch said. "There's been a lot of goals, but boy, the chances that we're giving up are Grade A's, and I'm not sure there's many that I would say, 'Geez, where's the save there?'"

Knoblauch added, "When you're making a gaffe and a guy's all by himself in the slot, and we've seen probably three of those in the last two games, that's not giving your goaltender much help."

No decision has been made on which goalie will start Game 3 on Friday.

Skinner has an .810 save percentage this postseason through two starts. He owned a .896 clip in 51 regular-season appearances.

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