In a disappointing turn of events for the Edmonton Oilers, their first game since losing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final ended in a whopping 6-0 defeat on home ice against the Winnipeg Jets. The Oilers goaltender, Stuart Skinner, had a rough night and was pulled midway through the second period after giving up five goals on just 13 shots.
“It is very frustrating to start like this. It is just not ideal, I don’t feel great, but I can’t do much about what happened tonight so I’m going to go back to a couple sheets and draw up some new stuff for me to work on and just get better from this,” Skinner expressed his disappointment postgame. “I have been pulled before, I have let in five goals in a game before, obviously you just don’t want to do it the first game. You don’t want to do it ever. I’ll just get better from this and move on.”
Skinner, who had a solid record last season with a .905 save percentage and a 2.62 goals-against average, had a tough outing in this game. The Oilers managed to outshoot the Jets 30-20 throughout the night, but their efforts were not enough to overcome the strong offensive display from Winnipeg. All five goals allowed by Skinner came in a short span of less than 15 minutes, with Adam Lowry getting the Jets on the board first at 14:56 of the first period and Kyle Connor extending the lead to 5-0 at 9:33 of the second period.
Rasmus Kupari and Dylan Samberg added to the Jets’ lead with goals just 20 seconds apart early in the second period, making it a tough night for the Oilers. Calvin Pickard came in relief for Skinner and made six saves on seven shots in the latter part of the game.
Head coach Kris Knoblauch, who took over the coaching duties after a slow start last season under Jay Woodcroft, remained optimistic despite the tough loss and emphasized the importance of bouncing back in Game 2 against the Chicago Blackhawks.
“It’s tough to rebound against this team, last year they were the best defensive team in the league, so when you’re giving them goals it’s tough to get them back,” Knoblauch acknowledged. “We got punched pretty good tonight but we’ve always been able to respond. Last year, I was happy with our guys, when we did have a bad game we usually responded really well. We’ll see this weekend. It’s one game. After this weekend, definitely that will be a tell of where we are at.”
With the disappointment of the season opener behind them, the Oilers now turn their focus to the upcoming challenge against the Blackhawks in hopes of bouncing back strong and proving their resilience early in the season.