It’s a small sample size, littered with lucky goals, but this is not the start Skinner or his teammates were hoping for
This isn’t Stuart Skinner’s fault, necessarily, but it’s his problem.
Nine goals have snuck past him in the first two games and a series lead has evaporated, along with home ice advantage and any sense of invincibility the Edmonton Oilers might have had over the L.A. Kings.
Article content
Between the three fluke goals in Game 1 and the seeing-eye shot, the circus deflection and the lucky break that set up Anze Kopitar’s overtime winning breakaway in Game 2, there is no question he and the Oilers have been on the wrong side of fortune so far.
Advertisement 2
Article content
“Since the third period of Game 1, just some really tough bounces are happening,” said the Oilers goalie. “Every shot they take seems to hit off a guy’s stick, hit off a skate. Their whole team does a really good job of getting traffic. They’re getting some good puck luck right now. That’s how hockey works sometimes.”
The Kings have potted some weird ones, to be sure, but you can’t just shrug Game 2 off to bad luck.
Was Skinner too deep in the net on the OT winner? Should he have saved the Drew Doughty breakaway goal in which the Kings defenceman never even got a shot off? Would it have been nice to come up with a timely stop when Adrian Kempe was all alone in front of him three minutes into the game?
Yes to all.
“Kempe made a nice shot, but it’s a shot that I saw and I can stop a puck like that,” admitted Skinner, who couldn’t do much on Kempe’s double-deflection goal to make it 2-0. “That’s great hand-eye coordination by him. That’s a good goal. Hockey players make great plays. You just got to, you know, move on and move forward.”
Goaltending is a coin toss at the best of times. Colorado’s Alexandar Georgiev looked like he was drowning in Game 1 against the Jets (seven goals on 23 shots) but he turned around and stole the show in Game 2 (two goals on 30).
Headline News
Article content
Advertisement 3
Article content
Eighteen goalies have seen action through the first two games of each series and nine of them have save percentages below .900, including Connor Hellebuyck (.870), Jake Oettinger (850) and Stuart Skinner, who ranks 15th out of 18 at (.857).
It’s a small sample size, littered with lucky goals, but this is not the start Skinner or his teammates were hoping for. After going 5-6 with a 3.68 goals against average, .883 save percentage and getting pulled four times in last year’s playoffs, this is supposed to be his rebound performance, a chance to show that he’s the mature backbone he’s been all season.
Odds are he still will, but now the pressure is just a little heavier after surrendering Game 2 and giving the Kings life.
We’ve seen from Skinner that he is absolutely capable of pulling out of a dive. He had brutal to start this season — worse, even than Jack Campbell, who is buried in the minors right now — and he emerged as one of the top regular season goaltenders in the league.
In mid-December he got shelled in Tampa Bay (five goals on 22 shots), then gave up three goals on 21 shots in a loss to the Islanders. After that, he strung together 12 straight wins.
Advertisement 4
Article content
“I’ve seen him take ownership and accountability and come out really solid and play superbly,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “I have no doubt he can do that. Any time he’s had an off game he’s always been able to play really well for us.”
The Oilers need to see that fire again. Their playoff hopes are resting on it.
But the players in front of him are in the same boat. Drew Doughty shouldn’t be walking in all alone on a breakaway. Yes, Kopitar got a good bounce in OT, but Darnell Nurse was slow to read and react and could only watch the winning goal from a distance. Evan Bouchard and Warren Foegele can’t make those costly gaffes three minutes into the game.
“There is a lot to clean up,” said Knoblauch. “They’re a good team, they’re going to get chances, but we’re giving them some opportunities we didn’t need to. And we didn’t generate as many chances (as Game 1).”
Recommended from Editorial
The Oilers didn’t lose a 2-1 snooze fest, they lost a 5-4 shootout in their own building. That’s not cool. And suddenly a series that looked so under control just a few days ago is now up for discussion.
As is their goaltending. Skinner hasn’t been dreadful. He won Game 1 and was just OK in Game 2, a night when the breaks were beating the boys. But he needs to be better, because the series is yup for grabs now.
It might not be Skinner’s fault, but it is his problem.
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
Article content
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
___
AP NBA:
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
k.d. lang gets the band back together for Canadian country music awards show
NATO military committee chair, others back Ukraine’s use of long range weapons to hit Russia
Cavaliers and free agent forward Isaac Okoro agree to 3-year, $38 million deal, AP source says
Liverpool ‘not good enough’ says Arne Slot after shock loss against Nottingham Forest
With a parade of athletes on Champs Elysées, France throws one last party for the Paris Olympics
‘Challenges every single muscle’: Champion tree climber turns work into passion
MPs to face new political realities on their return to Ottawa
Air Canada, pilots still far apart as strike notice deadline approaches
Comments