Oilers starting goalie Stuart Skinner had a great game against Buffalo Sabres and has worked his stats back to league average, but fans have identified one major warning sign about his season so far.
Goalie analysts revealed that Skinner had a major weakness of goals of the rush, but he's actually responded to improve that stat significantly this season.
Oilers fans concerned about Stuart Skinner's record against top teams
While Stuart Skinner did have a great performance tonight against the Buffalo Sabres, a problem this year has been his performance against top 10 teams, and playoff teams.
Against the top 10 teams in the league, all Cup contenders, Skinner's stats are completely abysmal. Facing playoff teams entirely, Skinner actually has a negative record and -4.75 goals saved above expected.
There's surely positive signs for Skinner as well. His marked improvement on rush goals is encouraging, and it's the minimum to ask for him to be able to put up good numbers against non-playoff teams.
However, the Oilers will want to see some improved results against other cup contenders before the playoffs - especially when they're already questions about their goaltending being their weakest position.
If the Oilers do want to pursue a trade for a goaltender this season, there's some rental options available for trade to upgrade on Calvin Pickard. With these results against top teams in the regular season, it may help the Oilers to get some insurance behind Skinner for the playoffs.
In the back half of the season, the Oilers will be watching Skinner closely against top teams. They'll need him to produce improved results, or it may become a real concern heading into the playoffs.
