Skinner to start against Buffalo as Oilers try to stop falling behind early

Calgary Flames' Dillon Dube (29) hits the post as Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner (74) tries to make the save during first period NHL action in Edmonton on Saturday, October 15, 2022.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

It wasn't the way Stuart Skinner wanted to start his season, but he came in and did his job anyway.

The Oilers backup goalie replaced Jack Campbell Saturday night with his team already down 4-1 against the Calgary Flames. Skinner then stopped all 31 shots he faced and was named the first star of the game.

"I thought there was a maturity and a mental toughness to Stuart. He went right into the game and he made some big saves and he gave us a chance to win that game," head coach Jay Woodcroft said Monday.

With Skinner shutting the door, the Oilers scored twice but lost the first Battle of Alberta of the season 4-3.

Skinner will get the start Tuesday against the Buffalo Sabres, which his coach suggested was both based on play and a plan to give Campbell rest through the season.

"There's maybe a longer-term view of how we want the games to be split, but as with everything else, we say that we're light on our feet. We're gonna use our eyes," Woodcroft said.

After falling behind 3-0 to the Vancouver Canucks and 4-1 to the Flames, the Oilers' captain said the team simply needs to perform better earlier in games.

"It doesn't take much of an expert to realize that we gotta be better in the first five, 10, 20 minutes," Connor McDavid told reporters. "Everybody's gotta do something to get themselves in the game. You can't kinda sleepwalk through the first minutes of the game."

"You're never really gonna win a game in the first 10 minutes, but you can put yourself in a bad spot. We've done that for the first two."

The Oilers were outshot for the second game in a row, with Calgary recording 42 to Edmonton's 29. The Flames held a 16-11 advantage in that category in the first period.

"Mentally engaged is sometimes just as important as being physically engaged," Woodcroft said of his team's starts.

"The big thing that we talk about is that when you fall behind, what it does is, it disrupts your rhythm as a team of how the game should be played."

Forward Evander Kane also used the word "rhythm" to describe the problem. He suggested the Oilers need to start hitting opponents earlier.

"We haven't been engaged as I think we probably would have wanted to, physically. And I think that feeds into our group when we do start to bring that part of our game, that physical presence," Kane said.

Woodcroft also talked about how the team needed to spend more time at the other team's end of the ice.

"When you possess the puck in the offensive zone and you grind a team down, what you're doing is you're not allowing them to counterattack you because they're probably spending most of their shift in their own end," he explained.

"Which means they flip it and change, which allows you to get right back on top of them."

The Oilers (1-1) play the Buffalo Sabres at 7 p.m. MT Tuesday at Rogers Place.