It wasn’t quite a primal yell or scream coming from Calvin Pickard’s mouth when Stuart Skinner walked through the Edmonton Oilers dressing room doors late Monday night. But it was close. Skinner had just finished a TV interview – after he stopped all 23 Vegas Golden Knights shots in the Oilers’ 3-0 win to give Edmonton a three-games-to-one lead in their best-of-seven, second-round playoff series – when he was greeted exuberantly by Pickard and a clutch of teammates. The starting goalie had lost the Oilers’ net to Pickard a couple of weeks earlier just two games into the National Hockey League postseason after allowing 11 goals in a pair of losses. Skinner was pressed back into action for Saturday’s Game 3 with his goaltending partner Pickard suddenly sidelined with an injury after six straight wins. Skinner said Monday night that “everything that we’ve gone through” over the last two years as a tandem – which includes a trip to the Stanley Cup final last season, a playoff run during which Pickard spelled his partner off for two games against the Vancouver Canucks – makes them “closer.” “Being in the position that we’re in, it takes a lot of character to show each other support, even though maybe the other guy’s not in the greatest situation,” Skinner told media in the Oilers’ dressing room after the game. “Seeing that shows everyone his character, how much he actually cares about me. It’s not fake and same the other way around. There’s no facade there. It’s two guys battling for each other and always supporting each other.” While Skinner took the ‘L’ in Saturday night’s surprise Vegas win, he shone at key points in that 5-4 Game 3 defeat. On Monday night, he coolly kept the Golden Knights off the scoresheet while his teammates dominated the Pacific Division rivals. Head coach Kris Knoblauch said Tuesday morning his players “have the same mindset” of how they’re going to play no matter who is in net while supporting Skinner, who wore the goat horns more than any other Oiler (aside: don’t most goalies?) when Edmonton went down two games to none early in their opening round series against the Los Angeles Kings. Skinner was at his busiest in the first period while the Oilers killed off penalties at three different points, up by one and two goals, turning aside two shots and his teammates blocking two minus a man. He also stopped Golden Knights winger Ivan Barbashev on a partial breakaway and defenceman Noah Hanifin in close during a Vegas push early in the period, and did the same to d-man Brayden McNabb halfway through the frame, with the score 1-0. “Our team played a really good game in front of him,” Knoblauch told media at Rogers Place. “We did have some breakdowns. Those breakdowns aren’t as evident when your goalie makes some big saves, and Stuart made some big saves for us.” Centre Adam Henrique, who scored both first-period goals for the Oilers, said after the game he and his teammates “have all the confidence in the world” in Skinner. “The last game, you could see the confidence with him is there,” Henrique told media. “He was playing with the puck, hung onto it for about 10-15 seconds, and it was great to see him get rewarded with a shutout.” Skinner said he’s simply “sticking with (his) process.” “That’s what we’ve been doing so well as a team, too, is not trying to chase after wins or anything like that,” he said. “Just stick to what we do.”
