While it appeared Nikita Kucherov lost the puck on his breakaway on Stuart Skinner Tuesday night in the win over Tampa, guess again.
This was actually Kucherov’s sleight-of-hand as he tried to slide the puck through the Oilers goalie’s legs, but Skinner made an easy pad stop.
Skinner refused to bite on the cheeky play because he’s seen it before.
“He’s unpredictable but I knew I had to seal my ice because he’s done that play before. Everybody’s seen the highlights, the top-20 goals. I know he got Robin Lehner on a shootout with that play once,” said Skinner, who was beaten by Jake Guentzel in the 2-1 win but that was it, as he has a .947 save percentage in his last five starts.
Skinner escaped the scary last few moments against Tampa when Nick Paul scored in a wild melee with nine seconds left but the goal was disallowed on a high-stick by Paul, who tipped it and the puck went off Darnell Nurse and over the line. Rule 80.3 says when an attacking player causes the puck to enter the opponent’s goal by contacting the puck over the height of the crossbar either directly or off any player, the goal shall not be allowed.
“Me and Darnell fought for our lives when it was a scramble,” said Skinner. “I couldn’t even tell if the puck crossed the line. And if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”
He loved going head-to-head with one of his goaltending heroes, Andrei Vasilevsky, in the other net. When Minnesota’s Marc-Andre Fleury was in town a few weeks ago, he said he had an autographed stick from Flower that he cherishes and he would like one of Vasilevsky’s too.
So did he get one Tuesday?
“No. I want to go and ask right now but I don’t know if it’s the right time,” said Skinner, post-game, knowing he should have asked in the morning of the game.
“Mistake by me. Maybe I’ll ask when we’re in Tampa (for rematch).”
Skinner is a big fan of the two-time Cup winner Vasilevsky, who faced four breakaways in the game (two by Connor McDavid, two by Leon Draisaitl). McDavid was stopped on the first and beat Vasilevsky with a quick shot on the second, after roaring past a string of Tampa defenders. Draisaitl was stopped on his first one, but Vasilevsky swept the puck off teammate Victor Hedman’s stick and into the net.
“It’s kind of fun watching Connor and Vasy battle on breakaways because Vasy is so patient and smart. There’s so many reasons why he’s such a good goalie. He’s so flexible. He can go into the splits (pads) and his body stays so upright. That’s a dangerous combination,” said Skinner.
WILD HAVE OILERS NUMBER
With the Oilers in Minnesota Thursday, it’s clear the Wild has never been a good matchup for the Oilers. In 104 career games, the Oilers have only won 37, only 35.6 per cent of the time, no matter if it’s coach Jacques Lemaire’s suffocating defence they’re going against or John Hynes’ more wide-open offence of today. In the 104 games, the Oilers are only averaging 2.3 goals a game. Minnesota beats them about two out of every three at home (64.7 per cent).
It’s the flip side of the Oilers dominance of Nashville Predators.
“Every team has a team that they face off against and it’s a challenge. As long as I’ve been here, no matter where they are in the standings, it’s a tough game, tough in front of their net, hard in front of ours, and they have an element of skill,” said Nurse.
The player with the most skill is Kirill Kaprizov, second in NHL scoring with 43 points. What makes him so good? “His ability to control the speed on his edges. He’s very elusive and has an eye to make plays. When (great players) see a play they do it instantly. It doesn’t take them much time to process it. Like when you look at Connor and Leon. They see a play and bang, they make it,” said Nurse.
The Wild keep rolling without their No. 1 centre and Swedish 4 Nations selection Joel Eriksson Ek, their top-4 defenceman Jonas Brodin with a suspected shoulder concern, and Mats Zuccarello, who had surgery after taking a puck in the groin from a shot by teammate Brock Faber a month ago.
This ‘n that: The Oilers, who claimed Kasperi Kapanen on waivers from St. Louis last month, made another Wednesday, adding big Boston farmhand right-shot defenceman Alec Regula. He’s coming off knee surgery and the Bruins wanted to get him to the AHL. He’s six-foot-four and 211 pounds and pure defender, with the best plus/minus, at plus-36, in the AHL last year with Providence. Regula, 24, was a good Blackhawks draft but they traded him to Boston in 2023 for Nick Foligno and Taylor Hall. Regula’s off to Bakersfield. … Skinner is red-hot but Calvin Pickard might get start against the Wild with games against Vegas and Florida after that … Former Bakesfield captain Brad Malone retired after last season, saying he wanted to give coaching a whirl. And he’s already the head coach in Oshawa after starting as an assistant when the OHL junior club shockingly fired Steve O’Rourke with the team first in the East division … Viktor Arvidsson has now missed 12 games since he was hurt, with a suspected core muscle issue, against New York Islanders a month ago, Nov. 12, on a night when he played 14:04. He hasn’t skated with the team since then. Realistically, he misses two more games and he might return next Monday when we’ve got the Stanley Cup rematch with Florida. Arvidsson had five points in the 16 games before he was hurt but they came in three games, with three assists against Pittsburgh and goals against the Canucks and Nashville. He’s got lots of ground to make up … One of the oddities in the first third of the season: Derek Ryan, who was Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ strong sidekick on the first penalty-kill forward unit last year and through the playoffs, has only played 10:33 short-handed in 26 games this season. That’s telling for Ryan, who turns 38 right after Christmas. Adam Henrique has taken his spot with Nugent-Hopkins, with Connor Brown and Mattias Janmark second up. The third pair against Tampa Tuesday was Vasily Podkolzin and Kapanen, and Arvidsson in his 16 games, also had more short-handed work than Ryan. When Arvidsson returns, where does Kapanen, now playing right wing with Draisaitl, go? … The Wild have the best record in the NHL but they do have one glaring weakness. They have a terrible penalty kill. It’s currently 71.6 per cent, 30th in the NHL, as it was last season. They’ve given up 19 goals on only 67 penalty-kill opportunities, so if the Oilers can get three or four power-play chances, that will help at Xcel Energy Centre.